¤ Chapter 15.: Good Night ¤

"Genie, my third wish,"

"After so many years?" he wondered. "As you wish, my lord. Make your wish, and I will make it come true."

"I want to change the fate of Haruno Sakura,"

The magical blue creature opened its mouth but immediately closed it again. He briefly looked away from the young Uchiha, waiting for the genie to snap his finger and fulfill his stated wish.

The genie gathered enough courage to look his master in the eye. He clasped his hands together sadly and bowed his head before him. "I cannot. I..."

Sasuke cautiously moved closer, and the genie flinched under the influence of the terrifying aura that emanated from the young man's body. He could almost feel the mark on his neck begin to pulsate.

"Do it,"

The genie was already ancient; he had seen a lot of sad and happy stories, and he even appeared in some of them himself. You may remember Aladdin, a boy who once changed his life from a common thief to a high-ranking woman's man. However, these two Uchiha held a special place in his storybook, as in his long life, he had never seen so much sadness together, in two people desperately trying to achieve their goal. The magical creature couldn't deny his weakness for the older Uchiha, and he also couldn't deny the fact that he had more than once tried to find any loophole in the laws to help him and grant his one wish that he asked of him - a wish that had made this young man go to such extremes.

The blue creature looked up. "My lord, I really can't,"

The Uchiha looked into his eyes; something whispered that the genie was sincere in what he said, so he beckoned him to continue. The genie nodded gratefully, thanking him for his kindness.

"I can't kill anyone, I can't bring the dead back to life, I can't guarantee more than three wishes," he briefly outlined the rules he had to follow.

The raven-haired boy frowned, not understanding why the genie repeated the points of the contract they had made together years ago when he first found him trapped in the golden lamp. He was about to object when the creature held up a large blue palm to stop and allow him to continue.

"And I can't interfere with someone else's wish with your wish either,"

The Uchiha growled, his blood-red eyes blazing with anger.

*.*.*.*

The pinkette felt like she had more bone and muscle than her masters had taught her as her whole body ached. After getting home and shedding her soaked clothes, she headed to the bathroom for a warm shower. Later, in a golden silk robe that reminded her of her house, she picked up a clipping she'd found in a borrowed orange sweatshirt. She plopped down on the couch, and even though the hour was late, her body refused to get up and move into the room. Her tired mind assessed it enough – her bed was as hard as concrete, and she didn't care if she spent the night in it or on the couch. But it wasn't until this morning that she discovered she was dead wrong.

She couldn't close her eyes all night, thinking, unable to stop the thoughts that revolved around the information she unexpectedly got from Naruto. What did he have to do with his mother?

It was no secret that Tsunade hated all jinchuuriki; the word alone could ignite a fire inside her that would burn the entire world. Do you remember when Tsunade banned the word jinchuuriki in the land of Clouds? She elevated this crime to one of the most severe, punishable by death and exile.

But why did she appear in the blonde's dreams? Sakura wasn't stupid; she quickly understood that what Naruto had confided in her wasn't a matter of the past few days. No, this was a thing that had to have been happening for years when he could describe it so perfectly as someone who had lived with it all his life the way Sakura had.

Still, the whole thing didn't make sense to her; why was her mother asking about a man she inherently hated?

With a grunt, she sat down on the sofa she had grown to hate in one night, cracked the joints and bones in her body, stretched the stiff muscles, and stretched her arms high above her head with a loud yawn.

She stopped mid-movement when her gaze drifted to the entrance to the living room. Sasuke was leaning against the door frame and watching her with an amused smirk. Seeing that she had regained consciousness, he snorted and straightened up.

Sakura raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"It was open," he pointed at the front door behind him.

"Ah, sure," she grunted sarcastically. "I forgot to put up a sign that today is not an open house."

The raven-haired man rolled his eyes, shook his head, and looked back at the pinkette on the couch, still frowning sleepily.

"I see," he turned his back on her. "Then we 'll go,"

Only then did Sakura really and thoroughly examine the Uchiha. Her annoyed mood vanished with a wave of her hand as a small body peeked out from behind his tall frame, clinging to the fabric of his black pants. The little girl anxiously tilted her head back, tugged at the fabric a few times, then took quick, small steps around her older sibling to launch herself into the open arms of the pinkette, who dropped from the couch directly to her knees to reach her height.

"Mikoto!" she exclaimed happily as she hugged the little girl.

"She wanted to see you," Sasuke explained in a dispassionate voice as he approached them.

The emerald eyes moved from the boy to the little girl, gently stroking her hair. Mikoto grabbed her palm and held it to her face, pressing against her like a cat.

"I missed you too," she said in a sweet voice.

Sakura took her in her arms and stood up, looking at Sasuke, who was sizing her up with an unreadable look. The emerald eyes looked away. She still didn't know how to explain his behavior. One moment, he showed her affection, understanding, and care, and the next, he was exactly like that - aloof, cold, and bitter.

Sasuke shoved his hands into his pants pockets and pretended to look around at the poor interior decoration. After a moment of silence, a growl came out of his mouth, "Se needs babysitting. And Itachi has something again,"

Sakura smirked at the thought of the older Uchiha having another ladylike visit.But then she raised her eyebrows curiously.

"And you?"

Aside from natural curiosity, she couldn't find a reason, or a good reason, why the Uchiha decided to show up at her house accompanied by a younger sister he needed to watch over in their older sibling's absence. And she also wondered what his plans were if he entrusted his sister to her.

"And I'm driving crazy of her."

The little black-haired girl and the pinkette exchanged conspiratorial glances and laughed aloud at Sasuke's despair that little Mikoto was causing him.

*.*.*.*

Sakura didn't take long to figure out why the raven-haired man was so desperate. She completely understood why he had overcome his pride, took his younger sister, packed her favorite toys into a small backpack she carried proudly on her back, and came to her house.

Mikoto was extremely active today; even the pink-haired girl sometimes had trouble keeping up with the pace at which the little girl changed games and toys. She couldn't help but marvel at the dizzying speed at which she managed to pick more and more toys out of the red backpack as she ripped the doll from Sakura's hands and immediately replaced it with another one, thus announcing that this game was over, and a new one was beginning.

It also didn't take long for Mikoto to run out of toys as she opened her backpack one last time to find it empty. The raven eyes looked at the floor littered with her possessions; then her gaze drifted to the empty contents of her backpack, which she then turned upside down and began to shake frantically as if to get something else out of it.

Sakura looked at the desperation almost imperceptibly forming in the black-haired Uchiha's eyes. She also noticed that he was reticent today, even quieter than other days. He just sat on a chair at the kitchen table, looking at his younger sister. He looked at her tenderly, with a strange touch of darkness. He was sitting there, elbows resting on the dining table, hands clasped, holding them to his lips, only his eyes flickering in the direction the small black-haired girl's body was running.

Sakura couldn't help it; her heart, still angry at him for his behavior, began to melt gradually. She assumed that the very way he was watching her - like a vulture, her every move - was a sign of his affection, care, and protection for the little girl, even though he didn't show it, even though his words proved otherwise as he pushed her away from him with a snarl whenever she ran up to him with her arms held high above her head to get him to join in on their current game.

Even now, when the little girl clumsily climbed onto the couch that was taller than her and sat down on it, crossing her arms over her chest, puffing out her cheeks, and pouting her lips with a frown, he was looking at her, watching her with his onyx eyes.

Sakura walked up to her and knelt on the couch, but the little black-haired girl raised her chin in offense.

"Listen, honey," she stroked her hair. "I think I have some more toys upstairs. Why don't you go see it?"

The child's black eyes lit up at her suggestion. She nodded cheerfully, and the frown turned into a smile; she immediately jumped off the couch with a bounce, and with a thump, she ran to the stairs, which she ran up.

The pinkette rose to her feet and raised her right hand. On her back, she felt the searing look Sasuke was giving her as he stood up abruptly, causing the chair to creak. She would almost think he had mistrusted her and doubted her momentarily.

She gave him a short, sad look, waving her fingers, which released a few green sparks that flew up and disappeared after hitting the ceiling, accompanied by an excited and joyful squeal of laughter from the little black-haired girl who was opening the door to her room and discovered an unexpected treasure that he was expecting her there.

Sakura looked into the dark eyes again, unable to mask the sadness his action caused her. That was how he saw her, as a dangerous monster that could get out of control at any moment, a creature he had to be constantly on his guard against, a creature that would never truly belong in his world.

Their gaze was intense as if they were wordlessly exchanging thousands of sentences and feelings that did not need to be spoken. Sakura couldn't take the onslaught; she couldn't stop the thoughts from multiplying in her mind like a parasite poisoning her like poison. She could only dimly perceive the sound of laughter from a little black-haired girl on the first floor who was discovering a toy kingdom that seemed to fall out of the catalog of every child's dreams.

She bit her lower lip, which began to tremble uncontrollably. She turned her face away from him and then turned her whole body, wanting to leave the room immediately, even if only for a few minutes. She couldn't breathe there; she was so sorry for what he thought of her and always would think.

The air in the room suddenly felt too heavy and the room too small; she needed to leave immediately, leave the place where he was.

However, she didn't get far; she didn't even realize the moment he managed to approach her so quickly. He roughly grabbed her forearm to stop her and turned her violently towards him until she crashed into his chest, but he still didn't release his grip.

The emerald eyes looked up determinedly; ignoring the tears welling up, she buried herself in the dark onyxes.

"I know what you're thinking," she hissed.

Sakura didn't break eye contact. She frowned as she peripherally noticed his mouth forming into a slight smirk.

The black-haired man leaned in, their noses almost touching, their faces only a few millimeters apart. Sakura could feel his warm breath on her lips, his lips so close that God only knew how she resisted the urge to look at them, the will she had to find not to interrupt the visual war she would not lose.

She could almost feel the movement of his lips on hers, and her eyelids closed slightly on their own as he whispered, "You don't know,"

"You think I'm a monster,"

She cursed mentally as she realized her voice sounded hurt. Still, she took the opportunity to find at least some emotion in his black eyes, at least a slight hint to tell her that she was wrong, that her words weren't valid.

The black-haired man sighed tiredly.

Sakura was surprised when he looked away. She almost thought she had won their silent war of gazes – even though it hurt her immensely because it meant her thoughts were confirmed – when his gaze returned to hers, and he nodded towards the living room door. She turned her head in the direction he indicated until she saw little Mikoto standing there, holding at least ten toys in her arms. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when she noticed she clutched one between her teeth; she didn't want to give up and leave alone.

The pink-haired girl didn't even have time to turn back to Sasuke because he was already walking around her. He took a few long steps to the little black-haired girl, knelt in front of her, and took the small toy she clutched between her teeth. Sakura noticed how he smirked in amusement as she didn't want to let go of his grip for a few seconds and shook her head like a puppy but finally relented.

Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a glance. Then, their attention turned to the toys Mikoto held in her arms. They weren't your typical dolls; the little girl was choosy as her choice of new possessions that she planned to occupy herself with for the rest of the day consisted of plush miniatures and replicas of mythical creatures.

Sasuke looked at the blue toy he held before setting it in front of Mikoto.

"Which monster do you like, Miko?"

She thought for a moment after his question.

After a brief thought, in which Sakura unconsciously held her breath as she nervously awaited the little prodigy's response, Mikoto let go of all the toys that fell to the ground. A beautiful smile appeared as she bent down to pick up another toy that belonged to the one Sasuke was holding. Mikoto grabbed a small golden lamp with a distinctive and unique shape. She then raised her hand, shot out her index finger, and pointed at the blue toy in Sasuke's hand.

Sasuke nodded in unfeigned appreciation and returned the miniature blue genie replica to his sister, who gratefully accepted him into a hug. "Genie from the lamp. Good choice,"

As he was about to stand up and return to his original place, Mikoto grabbed him by the sleeve of his white shirt. She tugged on him a few times, trying to get his attention.

Sakura was surprised how, in such a short time, she could learn to identify her every movement and put it into words without the little black-haired girl having to speak. She had admired this ability in Itachi before, but she was almost proud of herself when she found herself capable of it at this moment with such an innocent gesture.

She could almost hear him asking the same question. She could practically see the unspoken question glinting in little Mikoto's black eyes to reveal which monster her older sibling liked best.

The Uchiha smirked, touching her head and ruffling her hair. When little Mikoto closed her eyes adorably, he looked up to look at Sakura, and the onyx eyes sparkled.

*.*.*.*

Sakura kissed the petite girl on the forehead as she stood beside her older brother in the doorway. "Good night, darling. And be nice, will you?'

Mikoto smirked and happily shook her head in disapproval.

Sakura couldn't help but smile. She was sure from whom she had inherited this kind of humor, which was sure to morph into the now-famous sarcasm over the years. The little girl placed one last kiss on her cheeks and stood next to Sasuke. On the other hand, Sakura noticed that he didn't mind her entering the zone he always guarded so closely; he didn't even give her a wary glance when she touched the fabric of his pants.

As the raven-haired man bent down, her jade eyes glistened in the moonlight as she tilted her head to look Sasuke in the face. It almost seemed as if the moment he kissed her forehead, right here in this spot, before entering her house, was about to happen again, but she was taken aback when he stopped right in front of her face.

The black-haired man glanced at his younger sister from the corner of his eye. Mikoto held her hands together in a heart shape, one eye closed and her other raven eye looking through her heart at the pinkette and the Uchiha leaning towards her.

Sasuke rolled his eyes in annoyance, and Sakura couldn't help but giggle. Sasuke gave a warning look to Mikoto, who took notice, detached her hands, and immediately put her hands over her eyes to cover her view.

The Uchiha's onyx eyes drifted back to the pinkette; he raised a hand, which he gently grabbed under her chin and pulled her lips against his in a gentle motion.

"Good night,"

She watched as his tall figure walked away, his hands deep in his pockets, and a small black-haired girl with a backpack on her back happily hopping beside him.

The tips of her fingers touched her lips where she could feel his as she whispered into the quiet night, "Good night, Sasuke."

*.*.*.*

Sakura opened her eyes, but this time, she wasn't looking around in confusion to see where she was. On the contrary, this time, she knew exactly where she was; she knew it was the same dream she had about her mother.

She was no longer looking back at the strange containers of various body parts and organs on the shelves she rushed past. She moved so fast that her speed blew out the candles hanging on the sides of the walls.

As she burst into the dimly lit room, she heard her mother's desperate whisper.

"Please. Help me,"

She took a few more steps, passed the room of jarred abominations, and again chose to ignore them. But this time, not to avoid showing the contents of her stomach, but because she knew she was pressed for time and her dream would end soon, as always.

She immediately looked for the persons she wanted to find - two figures standing on opposite sides of a small round table. This time, she noticed that a purple tablecloth was hanging over it, on which stood an orb in which several puffs of colored smoke danced. Right next to it were identical objects, as in every such dream: a unicorn's horn, a shark's tooth.

Was this a witcher's lair?

Sakura swallowed dryly. She walked up to the golden-cloaked figure, who, this time, she had no doubt, was her mother. She then looked at the second gray-cloaked figure, whose identity she still didn't know. But she knew one thing for sure: her mother and this mysterious creature must have been close if she came to ask him for help in person.

She rubbed her eyes to eliminate the blurred vision the dream was giving her. She needed to concentrate to have a sharp and clear image to remember as many details as possible.

"As-s you wis-s-sh," the gray-cloaked figure hissed.

Suppressing the urge that rose in her stomach at the sound of the man's voice, Sakura shook her head as her dream was over. She wanted to beat it up there because she didn't learn anything new. The color of the tablecloth was not going to help her; she was aware of that, and that was why she was angry with herself for paying attention to such a stupid and insignificant detail.

The golden-cloaked figure took off his hood to reveal his identity.

Sakura bit back a sob that was about to escape her lips when she caught sight of her mother, Tsunade, but she immediately frowned, and her jade eyes widened as she realized how blind she had been all this time. Yes, it was her mother, no doubt about it, but it wasn't the mother she knew now, in the present. Tsunade was much younger; Sakura ventured to guess that she was barely a bit older than her. Her face lacked wrinkles and a warm smile. The pinkette felt a twinge in her heart as she noticed her reddened eyes, purple flecks beneath them, and swollen lids as if she had cried for days and nights before committing to this act.

Goldilocks' face turned sad, and she pushed back her long cloak.

Sakura narrowed her eyes to focus. Her time was running out; she would wake up in a little while.

Her tense body relaxed only when she was surprised that the dream was still happening.

She looked back at her mother, who was holding a small bundle in her arms. Tsunade looked at the creature in her arms with tenderness, a tear rolling down her face.

Frowning, Sakura took a step forward, and the moment her jade eyes left Tsunade's sad face and moved to the creature in her arms, she felt her blood freeze in her veins. It was as if time stood still for her as she caught a glimpse of the all too identical jade irises. Sakura opened her mouth in horror as she confirmed her theory. The moment she saw the pink lock of the child's hair in the arms of the Goddess of Love, she felt like her whole world began to spin uncontrollably.

Tsunade lovingly stroked the toddler's cheek; tearful hazel eyes looked at the man behind the desk.

"I can't lose her," she whispered brokenly. "You must help me, Orochimaru,"

Sakura woke up with a jolt. Her heart was pounding in her ears; she put her hand to her chest, trying to calm her panicked breathing. Her eyes were wide open, and she was panting as if after a long run. She glanced briefly at the window, only to find it was still deep night.

She put her bare feet on the cold floor and sat on the bed.

She ran her hands through her hair in despair. After a brief moment of piecing together certain connections, she placed her index and middle fingers on the right temple of her head to create a telepathic connection with the being who was the only one who could provide her with the information she urgently - and most importantly immediately - needed.

She did not doubt that a certain blonde knew the answer to her question. The sentients were the best information gatherers.

"Ino,"

It didn't take long for the blonde's terrified scream to echo in Sakura's head with a boom.

"Damn it, I might go crazy! Do you guys ever sleep?!" she was probably so dazed in a deep sleep that she ignored that she was contacting her; she collapsed back into bed. "Because I do!"

"Shut up, you pig," Sakura ordered, and with anger starting to build up, she asked directly. "Orochimaru. Is he a witcher?'

"No, for sure, no," she yawned, pulling the covers over her head. "An ordinary warlock. Now go to sleep, Forehead.'

Sakura nodded, even though she knew the blonde on the other side of the created thought line couldn't see her.

She felt like her head would literally explode. By all the Gods, her mother made a deal with a warlock, the most outstanding scum of all sorcerers and wizards.

"Goodnight, Ino,"

*.*.*.*

Well, we're done with this introduction and moving on to the next act!

I tell you that the following three chapters will be about the witcher, which of all the downworlders we haven't had yet :)

How about the story up to this point?

Kisses,

M.