Chapter Twenty-Two

The sunrise peeked over the monument of all the five kage, the sixth one currently being designed so she was told. Sakura had already returned to her old room in her childhood home for the time being. She had already stayed there for three days of the week since returning to Konoha. She sat in her seemingly smaller room on the same bed that she slept on two years ago looking out the window she would sit by every night to stare at the stars in the sky. Still in her pajamas, there was a light knock at the door.

"Come in." She yelled out quietly. The door opened to as Mebuki walked through holding a tray of food for breakfast.

"Good morning Sakura, how are you feeling?" Mebuki asked as she sat down beside Sakura on her bed.

"Better. My shoulder doesn't hurt as much." Sakura answered as she held her elbow to stretch out her arm.

"Have you been getting morning sick?" Her mother asked. A slight flush spread across her cheeks, for she wasn't quite used to the subject of pregnancy with anyone really.

"N-no not since we returned." Quickly Sakura began to dig into the food her mother made her. For the three days she'd been there her mother had taken care of her and the growing baby.

"When do you see Lady Tsunade?" Sakura swallowed the food she had in her mouth to answer her mother.

"Next week."

"Have you talked with Naruto lately?" Sakura nodded as she chowed down.

"So what is going on?" Sakura had seen Naruto last night to talk about the current situation with Sasuke, and how they were trying hard to let them stay in the old Uchiha remains.

"He said they would let us stay in the Uchiha mansion in the village, but the walls would be torn down to let other villagers move in."

"And the other's that you came with, what happens to them?"

"They are still deciding, but Naruto says they have good chances of being free." Sakura said with a smile as she put down her utensils to the now empty plate. Mebuki smiled as she reached into her pocket to pull out a bottle of pills Sakura was to take for the baby's health.

"Take your medicine before you head out."

Sakura walked the busy streets of Konoha, making her way to the hokage mansion where Naruto was waiting for her. She went to see Sasuke and the others every day, to keep them from going insane inside the dark temporary prison cells. Sakura looked at the doors that she would always stare at before knocking on them, but this time her mentor wouldn't answer. With the same light knock, Naruto answered.

Naruto escorted Sakura to the cells beneath the first level of the mansion, where they had been moved recently instead of staying in the smaller cells across the village. The two friends entered the room to see Sasuke, Juugo, Suigetsu packed into a more spacious cell, with Karin in the one right next to them. Sasuke stood in his usual spot whenever he knew Sakura was coming. Everyone smiled to see their friends, even Sasuke.

"Sakura, visit me this time you always see them! I wanna talk to you too!" Karin shouted as she sat in a chair that she'd placed by the bars.

"Why would anyone sit with you Karin, you're the most annoying person in this room." Suigetsu snickered from the other cell.

"Look who's talking!" Karin yelled back. Naruto laughed as he turned to leave.

"Naruto, aren't you going to stay?" Sakura asked.

"No I'll just stand outside." He said with an awkward smile.

"Stay and chat Naruto, don't be an outsider!" Sakura pleaded. Naruto looked to the cells that held an old friend, and others he didn't even know, but the puppy eyes that Sakura gave him made him pull up a chair to chat with everyone. They all laughed and talked for an hour, once Sakura and Naruto had to leave.

"Wait, Naruto think I can talk with Sakura alone for a minute." Naruto eyed the guards who quickly nodded in approval, than he escorted the two into the interrogation room.

"Sasuke, what did you have to tell me?" Suddenly Sasuke pinned Sakura against the opposite wall from the window. "S-Sasuke?"

"They're watching, just stay calm." Sakura nodded as she wrapped her small arms around his neck.

"What did you need to tell me?" She whispered into his ear. Sasuke nuzzled his head into her small shoulder that wasn't wrapped in bandages.

"Tonight, meet me at the place we first met. I'll wait until sun rise, so don't be late." Her stomach dropped to the unexpected request.

"Is something wrong Sasuke-kun?" She could feel the smile against her skin.

"I just want to be with you." Her face flushed brightly as he planted a small kiss against her pink lips. They both walked out of the room side by side, with Sakura trying to hide the faint blush. Turning around to see his face once more before leaving to live the rest of the day, she saw something in her eyes that looked too familiar on a night she'd always regretted.

The night was dark with only the moon as a light, once Sakura reached the small bush where she had first seen the little Sasuke. He leaned against the tree next to it where they would talk till the world would fall asleep. She began to pick up her pace. He lifted up his head when she was in sight. Beside his feet she could see a backpack propped up against the tree. She quickly ignored thinking it had a blanket or something else in it.

"You made it." Sasuke said as he pushed himself from the tree, not daring to move away from the pack beside him.

"What's with the backpack?" She asked as she stood arms distance from him.

"No hello?" He smirked as he inched closer to Sakura. She copied him, taking a step back.

"What's with the backpack Sasuke." The moonlight changed the green eyes he could always look at no matter what, to a sad emerald shade. He sighed as he slouched back against the tree.

"I can't stay here anymore, I have to leave."

"Why Sasuke, I thought everything was going good. I thought you said that you'd be able to stay here with me!" Sakura lurked forward with tears in her eyes.

"I'm not going to lie to you this time."

"How do I know that, it's not like you've done it before."

"I just need you to believe me Sakura." Sasuke pleaded with guilt in his eyes. Whatever wall he had been keeping up was now torn down. Sakura sighed to the defeat Sasuke always had on her.

"Fine." She crossed her arms and tilted her head ready to hear what he had to say.

"If I stay then we will be punished. Not just myself and the others, but you too. Even if you are pregnant they won't let you off the hook. I don't want you both to go through that just because of me."

"Then what good would it be for you to leave? I'd stay in prison for life just to be near you."

"If I leave then you can be free and not have to face the mistakes I've made."

"They weren't mistakes though. And you said you would stay, you said you would take care of the both of us."

"This is the best I can do for you Sakura."

"Then let me come with you, let me stay with you! I'll go wherever you go I'll follow I promise!"

"You know you can't do that Sakura. I need you to stay to take care of yourself, and the baby." Sakura held her abdomen, remembering the silent promise she made.

"I just don't want you to leave me again I don't want you to leave us!" Tears fell down her eyes like waterfalls, staining her face with pain and sorrow. Sasuke stepped forward taking her into his strong embrace. She cried into his shirt soaking it with her tears.

"Don't worry, I'll find a way to come back to you. I promise." She cried even harder into the dark blue shirt with the proud Uchiha crest on his back.

"What am I going to do without you here with me." Sakura sobbed into his chest.

"I'd ask you the same thing." She looked up to face the man holding her.

"You can tell them the truth, why everything is as it is now!"

"It won't work, I was too set on vengeance then too, they'll never believe it." She sighed as she rested her head into his collar bone. The silence of the wind blowing through the trees faded her hiccupping sobs away.

"What do I tell our child when they ask where their father is, what do I say to a question like that?" He breathed in long, exhaling deeply.

"Tell him or her, that'll I'll be there for the opening ceremony to the academy because their daddy wouldn't miss it for the world." Sakura tightened her weakening grip around his waist, trying her best to hold back the water works.

"How am I going to do this without you."

"I'll do everything in my power to come back to the village and take care of you both. I won't be gone for long, don't worry my Sakura this isn't a goodbye." He kissed her forehead then turned to grab the bag that sat under the tree they would spend countless afternoons together. Sakura stood still in the spot where he'd left her standing.

As he walked away her sobs were loud in his ears, but silent to the world. There was nothing else she could say to him, and nothing he could say to her. With every step he took distancing himself from her, the pain that emitted from her slowly deafened into the moonlight.

She cried into the tree until no more tears could fall from her dull eyes, then returning to her old bedroom in her parents house to stare out her window admiring the stars above. As he also did, watching the constellations move across the dark painted sky.