Someday You Will be Loved

A/N: This is the last chapter! Yay! For me. There will be an epilogue, though, so don’t worry about it not being neatly wrapped up. I did have to go back and rewrite much of this chapter, as the last one took me way out of where I had planned and what had been sketched out already. That's why it is so late, compared to when I thought I could get it up here. But I think it’s better this way, and I hope you guys like it as much as you have the others. So, without anymore stalling, here we go! The last real chapter of the story.

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“Someday You Will Be Loved: Chapter 8”

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“What you’ve done here, is put yourself between a bullet and a target…”

Kakashi could feel Yamato in the area, could sense the agitation in his clones. It was like a tension radiated through the forest, the mokuton user feeding his emotion into the trees to keep steady under the immense pressure he must have felt. He understood, but silently despaired at what it meant. If Yamato was visibly uneasy, the situation couldn’t be good.

He could hear the three nin behind him, moving swiftly through the forest by the Kazedama estate, a giant sprawling thing that seemed to be some technologic fortress inside the natural consequence of the area. It had taken them too long to get there, even though they made good time. Or maybe he was just letting the worry get to him.

No.

He could sense it. There was always this feeling, right before a really good fight, like the world stood with baited breath to see which of its inhabitants would see conflict that day. Animals were silent in the forest, leaves not falling or swishing about on their branches. The world was silent, waiting, watching.

He could feel Naruto’s chakra elevating, the fox trying to break free of its container, begging to rip through the surrounding area like a typhoon.

He could also feel the Kaze team approaching from the west, moving fast through the trees toward them. He wasn’t sure exactly who had been sent, but he had known that, from what Tsunade said, Gaara wouldn’t leave this alone either. Supposedly, the Kazekage had already made a major play for her freedom, making it quite clear that he would fight for the missing Konoha nin. Sakura was too close to him, just like Naruto, and Gaara felt there was some owed debt due to the encounter years ago with Sasori and Deidara. He wouldn’t deny their help, though. Any extra hands would be more than welcome, especially with him feeling like he was going into a situation he knew too little about.

He could barely see Temari, some Sand nin behind her, as Yamato’s clones poofed out of life and the ANBU appeared from a tree in front of them. They all stopped when they reached Yamato’s resting point, and panting, looked around at the spattered gathering of random nin. It wasn’t the best team you could build, but it was definitely a powerful one. They should be enough for any hired rogue nin in the estate, as well as any civilian fighters.

Temari stepped forward, motioning to Kakashi and Yamato, her team staying back behind her and a good distance away. Most of them seemed to be chuunin, well-trained but not remarklable by any estimation of their skills. They would work well for taking out any help the Kazedama family had, but wouldn’t be worth much against the main targets.

Her lips were pursed, her face pinched from something he didn’t understand. How long had she been in the area? She looked dirty and dusty, as if she had traveled fast or been camped out for days. He wasn’t sure which one was right, but he knew this situation couldn't be good for an expecting mother. Briefly, he wondered what Gaara was thinking, sending his pregnant sister into such a situation.

She shared a look with Yamato, and he knew they had seen something he hadn’t. The thought that they felt a need to shore themselves up before explaining the situation to him almost gave rise to a building bubble of dread in his stomach, but he didn’t allow it. He stepped on the rising emotion, pushing it into that place far inside where he hid everything else in his life from prying eyes.

Finally, Yamato stepped forward.

“Senpai,” he said, slowly stepping forward, “there have been developments in the last few hours.”

Temari once again glanced at Yamato, uneasy.

“We,” she stopped, hesitating. “We arrived late last night, not making contact with Yamato until an hour ago. But it was long enough. The situation has changed drastically.”

Kakashi’s one visible eye narrowed toward his subordinate.

“Senpai, I watched as there was an…altercation last night. We’re not sure what precipitated it, only that the nonviolent bystanders were involved, as well as Sakura.”

“And her condition, Yamato?” Kakashi asked, deadpan.

“Unconscious, last I checked.”

"And there is rapid movement around the house. With the way things are going, I would say they were packing up camp, so to say. Leaving."

Temari and Yamato both glanced to the side, allowing the Copy Nin some privacy, sensing there might be a little bit of a break in the façade he was trying to hold onto.

But he never faltered, at least to any observers. Inside, he was raging, plotting, planning. But on the outside he appeared as calm as ever, typical Kakashi.

“Then we need to move in soon. Get everyone ready, and let’s get this planned.” He paused, glancing over at Naruto, who had been eavesdropping the entire time. His kyuubi-enhanced hearing wouldn’t allow anything else.

“How many are in the house?”

“34, Senpai.”

“And how many will we have to fight?”

“Only around 20. But at least half should be considered jounin level.”

“And which way would be best to enter?”

“I think, as does Temari-san, Senpai, that the best way to go in would be…” he listened with half his brain as Yamato droned on, explaining the plan he and the Sand nin had concocted while waiting on them to arrive. It was a good idea, but he was afraid any advantage of surprise would be lost. But they might not have that anyway. You couldn’t take nine people into a house without alerting someone, usually.

“No, Yamato, look.” Temari gestured in the air, almost as if she had a map of the house in front of her. “Yasui-san said that they have less guards here, so if we enter this way…”

He once again looked over at Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai, all three seeming to be so calm and unaffected, but in reality listening to every word they said and standing fully ready to pounce on the situation. If he allowed them free reign, they would have Sakura out in minutes. But what would it mean for anyone in the house that wasn’t combative? He didn’t want innocents hurt, but he had a mission to accomplish. It wouldn't be the first time he had watched as innocents fell, collateral damage really, but he knew from the information Sakura's "friend" had given them that she had young cousins in the house, cousins she was trying to protect and liberate. She wouldn't be happy if his decision meant they were injured, or even killed accidentally.

He shook his head mentally, returning to the conversation in front of him, and came to a decision.

“Ok.” He half-smiled, fake. “We’ll go in two teams, one through Yamato’s entry plan, one through yours, Temari. We’ll convene in the main area after taking out any peripheral guards, and go from there.”

Both nin looked at him, nonplussed. He just fake smiled again.

“Senpai?” “Kakashi-san?”

“We can’t plan this out. Without more information on what’s going on, we’re at a disadvantage. Let’s just plan what we can, and go with it.”

Out of the corner of his normal eye, he could see Naruto’s grin, almost sadistic, forming. It was too close to how the Kyuubi had smiled at him before, and it gave him the chills.

He motioned his team over, and was about to explain the situation to them, mainly out of courtesy, when they felt the ground begin to shake, a rumble coming from the direction of the house. Everyone looked up, the Sand chuunin letting some of their surprise show on their faces. A large dust cloud was forming near the estate, and Kakashi didn’t need anyone to tell him what was happening. The main event was starting, and they were going to be right on time, something he wasn’t used to.

Everyone was silent a moment, as another explosive noise rang through the forest, and Naruto shouted in glee.

Everyone turned and looked at the small group of Konoha nin as Naruto's shout rang out in the forest.

"Sakura-chan!"

Kakashi, as well, knew what it meant, and gave the order.

“Go.”

Naruto grinned at him again, and he took off in the direction of the explosion, Yamato and Sai right behind him. Temari stepped toward her group, getting ready, as Sasuke stepped toward him, prepared to follow. As they took to the trees, watching Temari’s group go in a separate direction, he could only think about what the explosion meant.

Sakura was awake, and she definitely wasn’t happy.


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“Come on, abuse me more…I like it…”

“Matsu-sama. Don’t forget, I am Kazedama, too.”

Her words were punctuated with a snarl, ripping free of her throat right at the time her fist finally broke through the bone in his arm. He heard the snap, felt the sensation, but the pain was pushed down as adrenaline shot through his body. He had never seen such force displayed, although Jin had warned him many times that she was trained by the female Sannin who was known for her explosive strength. But he had never really considered that Sakura could actually use such a technique.

He could hear rushing throughout the house as everyone reacted, and in a moment lasting less than a second, he could hear the doors in his mind click shut, like a trap. They wouldn't be able to intervene; she wouldn't let them. This was a family fight, personal, not some random mission.

Sakura’s foot swung inward, aiming for Matsu’s shin, and he quickly scrambled back, hitting the sofa and feeling the bump against his calves. He wobbled, trying to keep his balance just a moment longer. Then, swinging upward into the air, he jumped over the sofa, landing behind the couch and using it as a barrier to her movement. But he could feel her eyes following him, her body itching to follow him, every move he made being mirrored and reacted to in her mind. She was planning, plotting, just like he always did. Just like he had taught his sister so long ago.

Just a moment’s pause and they were off again, darting around the room as each tried to get an advantage on their opponent.

He swung wide as he ran, barely missing an end table, before coming to a quick stop and throwing out an arm of his own, catching her shoulder before she could slow down or stop. Sakura was thrown back a few feet, hitting a large piece of wood from the destroyed furniture and falling against an antique étagère, but not injured.

His own injured arm tucked close to his body, he raised his right arm up from his side with a knife now securely grasped in his hand, held threateningly toward the kunoichi a few feet away. At least in this, he had the advantage. He was rarely unarmed. She had none of her weapons near her, while he was armed. And if he was right, she had no idea where he had put her sword or kunai.

“Do you think that’s gonna stop me?”

He almost felt himself back up from the menace in her voice, only to widen his eyes in surprise as her hands flew into the signs for an ice jutsu, distracting him and forcing him to move into the center of the room to avoid large, sharp shards of frozen water. The barrage didn't last long, but it gave her enough time to get him into position. She then moved into a forceful, graceful almost-bow, her body bending at the knees and waist as her palm slapped the floor beneath them with a slapping noise. There was a small moment of clarity before he felt the chakra rush through the floor, and he jumped.

There was a gathering of energy, a moment of stillness as they both hung in the air, before he felt the force. Debris imploded in the room, like a force pushed everything in and up. He could feel the furniture, the floor, his niece following him upwards as the massive force blew out the windows, and he maneuvered himself backwards, blocking his chest from any impact while trying to land on the exposed part of the second floor hall.

His niece was crouched against the wall in what was once her bedroom, hanging there and watching him. He had a feeling she was toying with him, almost like she was taking out her frustration on him. Her current position reminded him of a bat, hanging in its cave, watching as an insect scurried across from it. This wasn’t behavior he had ever thought she would display, and he found himself, for the first time in a long time, thinking that he couldn’t predict someone’s next move. He had never had someone watch him the way he watched others, and he could feel her words weigh down on him.

I am Kazedama, too.

I am Kazedama.

She was him, in another form. He could feel her eyes on him, wary, waiting to see what move he would make next. He could feel her planning her every move in accordance with what he was going to do, and briefly felt a kinship with her, this girl he thought didn’t have the guts to be cutthroat. How wrong he was. He was seeing the blood come out in her now, the Kazedama in her fighting for her superiority and her existence in the world.

She was Kazedama, he just hadn’t realized it until now. Now, when he watched her track his every move and swing her powerful, frail fists at him like her mother had done so long ago, trying to protect a young shinobi boy.

He could hear fighting in other parts of the house, and assumed that some form of back-up had come for her. He felt like he had been baited, been trapped, and he looked down at the floor for a second, noticing the emptiness of the hall and wondering where Jin had gone to in all the chaos. He shouldn’t have to fight this fight alone, but it looked like he would have to, the same way it had been all his life.

There weren’t many moves he could make in this situation considering he didn't have the ninja advantage his niece did, so he braced himself, and finally, jumped.

She jumped at the same time, the force behind her demolishing another wall of the house, and they met in the middle of the space, her foot flying toward him while his hand slipped through the air, slashing at her flying ankle and carving a shallow gash into the tender area. Her fingers flew into a minor fire jutsu, and he felt flames lick at him as he allowed himself to fall backwards, trying to put some distance in between himself and the fireball aimed at him.

The fell on opposite sides of the destroyed living room, immediately flashing out of sight before meeting in front of the glassless windows, Sakura landing a good punch on his shoulder, the bone sliding out of the joint with a pop, as his knife slashed at her bicep. She swung out, body beding unbelievably as her foot connected with the left side of his face and her other arm came up to grab his right wrist, immobilizing the weapon.

His head snapped to the side, blood coating his lips as he forced his feet to rush backward while flinging her hand off of him, first moving to the wall and then using it to push off, gain momentum, as he flew toward the door and into the study. His left arm was useless now, his head hurting immensely, and a knife meant he had to get too close to finish her off. With her being able to break bone with one touch, he needed something else.

In the study…there, he could hopefully find something else he could use, something that would extend his reach. Sakura moved to follow him, but ended up taking cover behind a bookcase near the door as he flung objects through the open entryway. But he wasn’t paying attention, so focused on just keeping her out of the room, and he flung the long object from the fireplace mantle out the door after the expensive globe and the small booktable, flinching as he saw the glint and realized the mistake he had made.

Her sword.

They both watched, almost confused, as the weapon clattered among the broken floor and scattered pieces of furniture on the other side of the room. It only took seconds for her to flicker out of sight, rushing toward the glint of steel in the dust and out again, onto the left side of the room.

He rushed, scrambling over the expanse of the room, over to his own weapon in its place above his priceless rare editions of literature, grabbing the hilt and whipping it out of the scabbard before preparing for his niece’s next move.

But she stood there, her sword grasped in her hand, not moving in the room.


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She stood there, grasping her sword in her hand, not really accepting that he had flung her weapon into her hands. Literally. She knew he wouldn’t leave the room without his own sword, but her mind was so caught up in the idea that he had actually flung a weapon to her that she wasn’t concentrating, and she realized her mistake a little late. Her uncle took the opening she presented, flying at her with his sword raised, slashing at her chest.

She raised her sword protectively, blade meeting blade, before the force behind him pushed her back into the double doors of the living room. She couldn’t get her other hand around to the knob so she could move into the foyer beyond, so she immediately calculated the force of chakra needed and pushed the energy into her hand, through her sword, pushing him back and away from her.

She knew she had to keep any swordfight short. While she loved her sword, such fighting was not her forte; her uncle was well-trained in this art and she was made for brute strength. He was much more skilled than she was with the weapon. She tried once, twice to get him to fall back, but it wasn't working. He stayed close, in range of her movement, leaving her little room to manuever.

He was working her toward a corner of the room, trying to cage her in so he could finish her off. And there was little she could do, really. He still had the addvantage, in skill and in reach. Their blades clanged, meeting once again, and she swung down hard, pushing his own blade to the floor before jumping to the left. He moved to follow her on unsure footing, and she swung wildly once, hoping to scare him into backing off, and they split apart. They ended up far enough apart, winded, staring each other down again.

“I will not go easily, Sakura.”

She could feel anger bubbling up inside her, all of it directed at this man who had the gall to act like he was the injured party in this whole situation. She could see him, preening, standing so tall and proud every time he put her and her life down, every time he went after his family, and she couldn’t take it.

She stood straight and rigid, her fingers flying into well-known signs around the hilt of her sword, and the room filled with fading pink sakura blossoms, falling beautifully and peacefully from the air above them. His eyes were wide with surprise as he watched her, not even thinking about the jutsu she must know until her realized that he had never seen one like this. He had forgotten, in the midst of their fight, that she was not just ninja, she was a jounin, trained by a Sannin. He would pay for it.

He scrambled around, trying to find a place in the room that the flowers wouldn’t hit him. While they didn’t look dangerous, he knew better. No ninja created a peaceful scene of falling flower petals, unless it was genjutsu or a trick. And he didn't feel the fadin sensation he had felt only once before, when put under genjutsu. Kunoichi were skilled in deception, in the art of looking innocent while being exceptional killers; his niece was no different.

But the room, while big, wasn’t large enough to maneuver around the hundreds of petals her jutsu poured into the room from above.

A petal hit him, softly landing on the lapel of his suit, and he felt his right side bloom pain. There was no noise, just a feeling of cold, numbing pain spreading throughout his fraying nerves. Blood was flowing out of his chest, his breathing becoming shallow as his lungs were tormented by the force behind the jutsu, and he pushed his injured arm to his now blood soaked chest, hoping to stem the bleeding. But he could feel whatever poison she had trapped in that justu affecting him as well, flowing freely through the parts of his body still receiving blood, and he stumbled toward the wall, falling heavily against it.

“What…what is this?”

She stopped, ten feet away from him, her sword falling to her side limply. She took a tentative step forward, her face serious and grave as she stared at him. She could see his pain, his confusion, and for once in her life, she found herself reveling in someone’s misery.

“My own jutsu. As you should well know, you have to develop one to become a jounin.” She watched as he fought to stay upright, his will fighting with the realization that she could have killed him at anytime.

“I am a medical ninja, Matsu-sama. I am skilled with poisons, with anatomical knowledge. I know how to hit someone without actually hitting them.”

She watched as he slumped against the wall, his sword held out as he tried to keep her away. He was beaten, broken, and still tried to hold her off. She could see that the fight had done major damage, that he wouldn’t walk away. So she stayed where she was, merely watching as he panicked.

The fighting in other parts of the mansion was winding down, and briefly she allowed herself to wonder who was here. But it fled soon, as other thoughts invaded. Standing here, watching as her uncle died, she wondered where the children were, where her aunt was, if they would be upset for what she was about to do, what she would let happen. It wouldn’t change her mind, but she felt a momentary pang of guilt at taking their family member from them.

She stepped forward as his sword fell, clanging against the broken floor of the living room and coming to lay against his folded legs. His panting was dying down, his eyes becoming glassy, and she could see the life leaving him bit by bit as the blood soaked through his expensive suit onto the floor beneath him. The medic in her screamed that she should help him, at least allow him to live, while the ninja inside argued that he wasn’t her first kill and wouldn’t be her last.

“Sakura…”

She didn’t move closer to him, still apprehensive, as she had seen ninja killed by dying opponents before. But she listened as he rasped out the words that would live in her memory for years to come, her eyes memorizing everything from the squint of his eyes to the movement of his red lips.

“You truly are…Kazedama. Only we…can be…this cruel.” He stopped, coughing and choking as the blood in his throat bubbled up. “Only we…kill our own family.”

She looked at him, the horror in her mind not showing on her face.

His eyes met hers, scorn, acceptance, even pride showing in his eyes.

“The blood is strong in you. You can…try to be Haruno. Try.” He laughed, wet and sick noises coming from his torn chest as he mocked her, even now.

“I don’t have to try. I am Haruno.”

He grinned.

“No. You are…mine. Me. Kazedama.”

He coughed once more, his hand tightening near his lap, and was still.

She didn’t move toward his body, didn’t move out of the room. She merely stood there among the ruins of the once-lovely mansion’s main rooms, staring at the body of her uncle and contemplating his last words.

The double doors to the room being slammed open didn’t register in her mind; neither did her aunt’s scream.

All she could see was her uncle’s pride shining in his eyes as he died at the hands of his niece, his beloved sister’s daughter.


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The mansion was in chaos, servants running around the area and flinching every time a new body was found in one of the rooms, surveying the damage and cleaning they woudl have to do while wondering where the master and mistress were in all the destruction. The teams of ninja went almost unheeded throughout the house and met in the foyer, moving toward the sounds of crying in the living room.

None expected what they saw.

They had known Sakura was fighting, and Sasuke and Naruto had even gotten a glimpse of her slamming her fist into her uncle’s shoulder earlier as they made their way around the perimeter of the house. But the room hadn’t been destroyed then, and the damage was awe-inspiring. It looked like someone had thrown out an Oodama Rasengan, demolishing the area entirely. They could see through the ceiling, through the room upstairs into the halls, even see that there was what looked like part of a bed collapsed against one of the walls in the large living area.

Sakura was standing on the opposite side of the room, near the entrance to what looked like an office, staring at the slumped body of her uncle. An older woman and two children stood behind her, the children softly crying as the woman tried to get Sakura to talk, to respond to anything.

Naruto stepped forward, his hand out, but stopped. It had been so long since he had seen her, and he almost didn’t recognize her, with the dark hair and long, thin body. She wasn’t the girl he remembered; she had become this strong, vibrant woman in the years she had been away. And by the looks of things, her punch had only gotten stronger.

He almost couldn’t deal with it. This Sakura, this woman, wasn’t the one who occupied so much of his memory. She had changed so much in so little time, and he couldn’t see the girl he knew anymore, not in that heavy stance, the mournful look. He wanted to rant, to scream at what the world had done to her, but he felt like something was clogging his throat. So he stood, watching, feeling that for once, it wasn’t him that she needed. It was a strange feeling; he didn’t like it at all.

The others stood back, with Temari approaching the children and trying, successfully, to explain who they were and remove them from the room. The Sand nin followed her as they escorted the children outside and away from the carnage inside the house, leaving the Konoha team and the two women in the room with the body of the Kazedama head.

“Sakura? Please.”

Nanao moved forward again, her hand coming to rest on her niece’s shoulder.

“Please,” she said, her voice trembling. “Whatever he said, don’t listen.”

Sakura’s green eyes swung around to her aunt.

“He said…he said I was him. I am just like him.”

Nanao swallowed, looking at the young woman in front of her. She could see the distress in her niece’s eyes, the pain at being compared to someone she had grown to hate. And she felt that first stab of the despising feeling she had felt for her husband for years now, remembered how it had begun and what it had first felt like. She felt it all over again, in this room, seeing what he had done to her niece, how he manipulated her mentally so her could torment her long after he was gone.

“He was wrong. You are nothing like him, Sakura. You should know that.”

Sakura’s head swung down, her eyes closing as she tried to contain herself. Her brown hair hung limp and dirty like a ragged curtain, blocking her from everyone else.

“Really?”

Her chest moved as she laughed silently, her confusing emotion not going down as easily as she had hoped. Her hand flew up, pointing and gesturing at the body slumped against the wall.

“I’m pretty sure I just killed my uncle. Doesn’t that make me just as despicable as he was? Killing family members? Isn’t that exactly what Kazedama do? We destroy, we kill, we hurt those we should love. I'm no better than he was, tormenting my mom for years.”

Nanao looked her, the grief spilling out of both women. They had both done things they weren’t proud of, all because of the last name they bore. Sakura shook her head suddenly, willing her thoughts and emotions away, before grabbing her aunt’s hand and squeezing. She was trying to remember where she was, who could possibly be standing behind her, and she didn't want anyone to see her break down like this. Her eyes flew open, and she took in the room.

“The children?”

“Outside, Sakura.”

She turned to the voice of the teacher she hadn’t seen in years, and she felt all the emotion well up inside her again. They were here. They had all come to help her. It was bittersweet, seeing that they cared enough to come and try to save her, even though now she wasn’t sure she was worth saving.

But still, she couldn’t help the swell of happiness that bubbled up inside her at seeing them. It was like pages of her memory being ripped apart and pieced together, all of them standing there looking at her.

“Kakashi? Naruto?”

Naruto grinned, beaming sheepishly at his friend, and she jumped across the room to him, tackling him as she slammed against him and grabbed him in a fierce hug. She could smell the sweat and dirt on him, but she didn’t care. It was Naruto holding her, her best friend in the world, and she couldn’t help but savor anything she could get to remember this moment. It had been so long, too long. When she had first left, it had almost killed her. His presence had been a part of her life she never really noticed until he wasn’t there every day, ‘Sakura-chan’ this and ‘Sakura-chan’ that, meeting her for lunch and livening up her life.

“Aw, Sakura-chan, come on. It hasn’t been that long.”

She half-laughed, half-sobbed against his shoulder, realizing just how much she had missed them all while she had been gone. He held her tighter, his eyes meeting her aunt’s eyes across the room as Nanao, nodding and setting her shoulders, made her way over to the ninja.

“Well, baka, you won’t believe the stories I have to tell you. It’s been crazy.”

She let go of him, moving back and wiping at her eyes, taking him in, his longer hair and the little lines forming around his eyes, before nodding at Yamato and Sai as they moved over to the body of her uncle. She stepped toward Kakashi who, awkwardly, pulled her into a half-hug under one of his arms, his eyes crinkling and his face beaming under his mask. He patted her shoulder, smiled down at her one more time, and let her go. She knew that was all she would get from the Copy Ninja, and she was grateful. It was enough to know that he had missed her, cared about her, enough to come after her. Especially after what he must have felt when he came back from a mission to find that the girl who had been placed in his care had supposedly run off, turned traitor. It meant a lot that he had come this far.

And finally, Sasuke.

She saw him, standing on the other side of Naruto, looking almost uncertain but not wanting to show it. His feigned nonchalance in the moment only made her heart ache that much more, as she could remember all the similar moments from when they were just genin, he trying to stand there looking unconcerned as she or Naruto had to patch each other's wounds. He had grown so much, no longer the little boy in her memory or the young man she could remember from fifteen. He was a man, tall and strong in front of her. She didn’t know him anymore, and it almost scared her, that she had been gone while everyone else got to know him again.

She stepped toward him, unsure of what to say or how to act, not even knowing what she felt about his presence at the moment, and stopped in front of him. His eyes were almost shining, at least in her opinion. She hadn't seen such a look on his face in a very long time, even before he had left.

“One of these days, you’ll have to tell me what happened, okay?”

She didn’t give him time to answer, though, before she flung her arms around him, grabbing onto him and squeezing. She felt like it had been a lifetime since she had actually seen him up close, felt him, breathed him in. The term ‘traitor’ didn’t matter anymore, merely that he was here in front of her, for her. He had come for her. It was something she could never have imagined until it was right in front of her.

He hesitated, uncomfortable, before one of his hands came up and patted her on the back, his other hand resting on her arm.

“I missed you, you know. We all did,” she said, her voice quivering and trembling like goosebumps.

She could hear Yamato and Sai approaching them, and she stepped back, once again wiping her eyes as she stared at the boy who had become a man without her knowing. She felt Sai come up behind her, his arm falling onto her shoulders as he made some sarcastic remark about her fists, and she elbowed him in the side, grateful for his own brand of humor at such a terrible time. She made a flimsy remark about his height and he gave her a little shrug, moving back a little and adopting his signature stance of readiness. Yamato smiled at her as he passed, his large brown eyes conveying that he, while not nearly as close to her as the others, had missed her as well. And she could feel herself moving past everything already; it was as if she never left, right now.

They moved out of the house, meeting up with Temari’s group in the driveway to the house.

As soon as the children saw her, they rushed up, grabbing onto her and crying about the fighting and the explosions, and Nanao moved toward them, bending down to look them in the eye and assuring them they were now safe. Everyone milled about, bandaging wounds and packing up any supplies they had used while waiting for Kakashi and Temari to get together a game plan, and she and Nanao explained to the children what the day really meant.

They were free. They were going to Konoha.

Lawyers, estate matters, the money could all be dealt with later. Right now all they wanted to do was get as far away as possible, so they could forget what had happened for a little while, set up a new life. Sakura assured them it would be possible, especially in her home village.

They had everything prepared and ready, and moved out soon enough, flying through the trees toward Kaze and Sand, since it was the closest ninja village to their location. A stop in Suna would allow them to recharge, refresh, and get ready for the trip back home. It would also allow some time for things in Konoha to settle down before she introduced her family to the city.

They travelled through the forest to Niigata, and hurried through the city as quickly as possible, hoping that no one would know so soon what had occurred. Sakura and Naruto each carried one of the children, while Yamato carried Nanao, since none of the family had the training or strength to try to travel as fast as the ninja. But the trip through the city was still intense and at a pace unreal to the civilian members of the group, as Kazedama Matsu had many friends in the city, even as bloodthirsty as he was, and they didn’t need to be caught by one of them. With their current condition, they wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight.

They made it into the outskirts of the city safely, then into the desert surrounding the lush city area, and finally over the border of Kaze in a few long hours. The trip wasn’t eventful, but it was long and compacting the exhaustion everyone felt. The sun was due to set soon, and there was no way they would make it to Suna for two days anyway, so they felt it would be better to stop and rest after the day they all had.

A spot was picked among the rocky desert landscape, one of the few soft and sandy patches among the barren rock landscape, and they all stopped to rest.

So camp was set up, mainly just a few tents and a small fire, and the children were fed and put into a tent shortly after nightfall. Nanao joined them soon after, begging off the after dinner conversation in light of what would most likely be discussed. While she was innocent in much of what had occurred, Matsu was still her husband, and she knew many would take that to be proof enough of her guilt. She had faith in her niece, but she felt that it would be better to stay away from the large group of ninja until everything had settled from the earlier fighting.

Once the family had gone to sleep, Temari set up a watch, mainly consisting of the Suna team, since the Konoha team had traveled much longer than they had. Those not on watch went to get some sleep, and soon the Konoha team was alone with their friend except for Temari, who stayed out with them, rubbing the small bump in her belly.

No one really wanted to discuss what had happened, not yet at least. The conversation Nanao had so feared never did come, and there was a strained silence for a few moments, until Sakura picked up on Temari's movement.

“When are you due, Temari?”

The blonde looked at the woman across from her.

“Oh, I still have a few months to go. I know I shouldn’t be out, but I felt this was important enough. Besides, those guys were weak anyway.” She cracked a smile.

Sakura smiled back.

“Is this your first?”

Temari laughed, looking at her.

“Oh, no! Apparently, Shikamaru likes having chaos in the house, as much as he complains. This is my third child. I have two sons, twins, as well.”

Sakura tried to imagine Gaara as an uncle, and failed miserably.

“Yeah, Sakura-chan, you’ve missed a lot!” Naruto sat up straight, his hands moving as fast as his mouth. “Temari and Shikamaru are having another kid, and so are me and Hinata! I’m gonna be a dad again!”

Sakura smiled at him, part of her feeling a stab of pain at missing out on Naruto becoming a dad. These people, so important to her, had lives she had missed out on. How long would it take for her to catch up, to get past what had been going on the past few years? How long would it be before she could walk the streets of her village and understand what people were gossiping about?

“Well, really, Hag, Naruto doesn’t do much. He spends his time hiding from Hyuuga-sama in the most embarrassing ways…”

“I do not!”

“You do, dobe, and you know it.”

“Now, boys, let’s not fight about—”

“Well, it’s not true!”

“Anyway, Sakura, you really need to hear about Shizune and Genma, because it is the most unbelievable story…”

“And about Ino. She’s really more trouble than she’s worth now a days!”

“And we have a new…”

She watched as they all fought to tell her stories of what was going on in everyone’s life, what all she had missed, and conversation blurred. This was foreign territory for her, having to get to know her friends all over again. She couldn’t remember how to act around them, how she was around them. She could only remember her personas, her new life, the new Sakura. The one who hid under sarcasm and her fists, who had to be paranoid and scrutinize everyone. She could almost see herself leaning against Hisadachi's shed-like house, the bastard, joking and cynical about the terrible world she had lived in the past few years.

She felt there was no one who would ever understand, no one who could possibly understand what it felt like to be staring at your own world in such a new way. To stare at herself in a new way...

But she pushed it down, and told them a few stories of her time out of Konoha; she told them how she met Reno, of the time she spent in Moon before really getting started, of her meeting with a Rain ninja not long after Akatsuki fell. She explained what kind of jobs she had taken, the places she had seen, the people she had gotten to know that she probably would never have considered friends until the mission came along.

She could see a wise look in Kakashi and Yamato's eyes, as if they understood what she meant. She had lived in the recesses of humanity for so long, gotten to know the people who lived that life daily, and finally realized why they did what they did. They had both been there before. It made her uncomfortable, this new acceptance into some world she had never seen in her ninja career before now, and looked away.

As the night got later, the conversation sputtered out, one by one the ninja fell to sleep or wandered off to nearby tents to relax and unwind. But she wasn’t tired, couldn’t find it in her to sleep after the day she had had.

She made an excuse to Kakashi, something about going and taking the place of one of the ninja on watch right now. He nodded, going back to his reading, and she wandered off into the night. Sakura took the place of a young female chuunin from Sand, someone whose name she didn’t know, and sat on the small rock the girl had found, looking out over the desert.

What was she supposed to do now? Going back to normal sounded great, but she wasn’t sure what that life really held for her. Sure, once she got going back in Konoha, everything would fall into place. But she felt like she was in the middle of something, the end not yet clear to her, standing on the edge. She felt like the desert in front of her, barren and unrecognizable, foreign.

She stared out at the blank landscape for about an hour, just thinking about all she had missed, all she had left behind, before hearing footsteps behind her.

She had noticed someone moving by camp earlier, and didn’t think anything of it, and she knew the same person was approaching now. She sighed, sitting up and readying herself for whatever conversation or debriefing Kakashi was most likely wanting to have, glancing up at the stars lighting the sky before looking up at the person that had stopped beside her.

She stared unabashedly.

Not Kakashi.

Sasuke gracefully flopped down beside her, silent.

She wasn’t sure what to say to him. She had almost avoided him the entire trip, scared of what she should say, what he would say, not knowing what to say, really. Even though she had seen him in Aisen, it had never really registered in her mind until he was in the house, in Niigata.

She settled for the mundane.

“It’s quiet out here. I’m not used to it.”

He looked over at her, glancing, before looking back out at the desert.

“I’ve lived in cities most of the time I’ve been gone. I’m used to noise.”

“You get used to it. The silence.”

They were silent a few moments, listening to the wind.

“I…I’m not sure what to say to you, exactly.” He looked over at her, scrutinizing. Sakura looked sheepish, shrugging her shoulders. “When I left, well, you were…still…yeah.”

When he said nothing, she sighed, shrugging again before allowing herself to slump a bit. She picked at the hem of her shirt with her hands, not focusing on the man near her. Why was he here? Why did he come out here, if he wasn't going to say anything?

“I guess it’s just new, is all. I’ll get used to it, like everything else.”

“Hn.”

“Well, there’s a lot to get used to, now. I’m sure you being back is just one of many things I’ll need to digest.”

“Not that much has changed, Sakura.”

She whipped her head up and looked at him, almost unbelieving.

“Really, almighty Sasuke-sama?! My friends aren’t having families, living lives I know nothing about? You aren’t back in the village? I didn’t miss the fall of Akatsuki, Shizune’s wedding, Naruto finally being accepted as a future Hokage? Could have fooled me.”

He scoffed.

“You’re still annoying.”

“Don’t call me that!” She scooted a few inches away from him. “You don’t know me anymore. You have no idea who I am.”

He just scoffed, again.

“Hn.”

“And don’t…don’t do that, either. It’s unnerving.” She released a breath, blowing the fringe of bangs on her forehead upwards. "Everything's unnerving. It's like there are two of me."

She settled her chin on her hand, looking out on the darkness.

“It’s not right, is all. Not what I expected. I guess part of me really thought nothing would change.”

“Unreasonable, at best.”

She resisted the urge to slap him like she would have Sai or Naruto. This was Sasuke, sure, but she didn't really know him. Not anymore.

“You just, well, you can’t understand.”

He looked at her, this time in disbelief. She mirrored his look, turning the same facial expression right back at him. But she really expected whatever emotion he was trying to release to stop right there, as this new, strange Sasuke had already been way too open around her. She almost jumped when he finally spoke, deadpan and disbelieving.

“I can’t.”

“No, you can’t.”

He laughed, bitterly, before pushing up off the ground with his hands, struggling a bit to stand and get his footing. The late hour was taking its toll, and he hadn't slept in over two days.

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

"And what do you mean by that?!" she said, incredulous and defensive. "Trust me, I could have handled it. I'm a big girl now, Sasuke. I don't need any knights on white horses riding in to save me."

"Like I said," he sighed, muttering, "still annoying."

She rose up a bit, her face and neck stretching to make herself seem taller. A look of pure disgust was on her face, one he had never seen her wear before, and he briefly wondered what had happened to her.

"I lived in Aisen. On my own. I could have dealt with my uncle, trust me."

He just stared down at her, seemingly unaffected by the tone in her voice, and she slumped again, folding into herself.

He looked down at her, so forlorn and not the Sakura he remembered. She had finally grown up a bit, realized what everyone else already knew: the world wasn’t the bright place she had once thought it to be. Things change, life’s not black and white. She was now in the grey area, and she didn’t know how to handle it. He wasn’t sure what her uncle had said to her, but obviously, it was affecting her more than she would admit.

“I’ve been there, Sakura. I had to come back to a world I didn’t know, too.”

She watched as he walked a little ways behind her before stopping, his back still to her.

“You know, you can always just accept it. Just accept whatever you did and move on.”

“And has that worked for you, Sasuke?” she asked, her voice hushed but strong, almost accusing.

She saw his shoulders tremble a little, and she felt that she was seeing inside him, seeing the man he had grown into.

“No, it didn’t. But I’m not you, Sakura. I doubt you could ever do some of the things I have done.”

“You might be surprised,” she said, her tone quivering and so quiet he almost didn't hear her.

She stared out into the desert night, contemplating the new Sasuke in her life and listening to his footsteps as he walked back to part of a world she didn’t know anymore.


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A/N: Well, only the epilogue to go! I'm working on it, since I'm sick and bored right now, and it should be done soon. But I make no promises. I'd like to have it out as a Christmas gift, though, so look for it!