FicWad

Love and War

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. Not me.

Chapter 1

“Rise and shine, my Sasuke-kun.” Sakura smiled happily to her husband.

“Sakura, you know I’m still tired from last night’s mission. The least you could do is give me five more minutes."

She waved a finger at him. “That’s the price you pay for falling asleep on the couch instead of with your lonely wife.”

“Well, I knew you’d be tired from taking care of Mikoto and Takashi all day, so I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Aww, you’re so sweet.” She bent over and kissed him on the cheek. “Now get your cute little butt up so I can make breakfast.” She turned and was about to walk away when a hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her so she fell onto Sasuke’s body with a short ‘eep!’

His arms snaked around her waist (pun not intended) and held her into place while he lightly kissed her neck, making Sakura draw in a breath.

“I said,” spoke Sasuke with a husky, sensual voice, “just five minutes, my Sakura-chan.”

Sakura shivered. He always gave her goose bumps whenever he called her ‘my Sakura-chan’ in that deep, masculine voice and could practically get her to do anything when he used it.

“Yes… five minutes…” She happily rested her head on his chest, relaxing into his warm embrace. They could feel each other’s heartbeats from the closeness of their bodies. He inhaled her wonderful scent with every breath. That amazing scent that was all her own and never changed no matter what type of shampoo she used.

Whenever the couple did this, just laying there, enjoying the others company, nothing else in the world mattered. They could spend and eternity in each other’s embrace, feeling the warmth of their bodies… the feint beating of their hearts… the soft sounds of their breathing…

But maybe later; Sakura still had to fix breakfast for her family.

She leaned up and gave Sasuke a short, chaste kiss on his lips, whispering, “Aishiteru, Sasuke-kun.” Then she quickly got up and walked out of his reach before he could pull her down again.

“Wake Mikoto and Takashi for me, would you?”

“Hn.” He stayed on the couch for another minute, and then decided he should get up before his wife came back and yelled at him for not moving.

Sasuke walked upstairs, taking in the magnificent scent of Sakura’s cooking, and into his children’s room. Mikoto was already awake, yet looked to be as tired as her father. Takashi, on the other hand, was still sound asleep in his bed.

“Morning papa…” said Mikoto while rubbing the sleep from her emerald eyes.

“Morning Koto-chan.” He gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Were you two good for mama while papa was away?” Mikoto nodded her head and gave Sasuke a smile that even he had to admit was too adorable for words. Even though she and her brother were twins and looked exactly alike, save for the length of their hair, Mikoto was the oldest of the two by 8 minutes. She was very cheerful, outgoing, and wasn’t afraid of showing her love for her family.

Sasuke walked over to Takashi and lightly shook him until he woke up. “Hey Kashi-kun, it’s time to get up. Mama is making breakfast right now.”

“Nnnn… okay…” The younger twin took his time getting out of bed. Unlike his sister, Takashi was shyer and didn’t speak much around people, excluding family and close friends. And like his father, he wasn’t a morning person.

Picking up and holding his son in one arm while holding his daughter’s hand in his, Sasuke took the twins downstairs to the kitchen where his wife had breakfast ready and waiting.

The Uchiha family sat at the table they regularly ate breakfast and Mikoto started chatting away about this and that. Any new news going on in Konoha never misses her ears. Just how she is able to find out about everything Sasuke still doesn’t know. But even though she was only four years old, he was still proud of her. Proud of both of them. The twins are so young, yet they are already showing signs of the much famed ‘genius trait’ found among the Uchiha clan.

They both shared some of their parents’ talents. Mikoto seemed to take after her father, showing she truly had Uchiha blood flowing through her veins. She had excellent aim while playing with her toy shuriken and could see and copy some of her father’s taijutsu whenever she watched him practice. Sasuke believed she would be the first of the two to obtain the Sharingan.

Takashi on the other hand took after his mother. He could already read and write and was very smart for his age. He even shocked his parents one day when he walked up the side of the house to get one of Mikoto’s toy shuriken stuck on the roof. Every time Sasuke remembered that day, he doubted whether Mikoto really would obtain the Sharingan first.

Sasuke quickly finished his breakfast, which usually consisted of two onigiri and a cup of milk, and excused himself from the table. He was too tired to put his equipment away when he came home last night, so he had to take care of that.

He grabbed his shuriken pouch, noticing how much lighter it felt from when he left for the mission yesterday. ‘I’ll need to get more sometime today.’Kunai; check. Senbon; need more of those too. Scrolls, paper bombs, and other essentials; check.

He then reached for his sword and stopped. Sasuke had never though about it before, but this chokuto was the only thing Orochimaru gave him that he actually kept for all the years after he killed the Sannin. Aside from the curse mark and summoning seals, but he couldn’t just throw those away. Sasuke picked up the chokuto and studied it, pondering.

“Sasuke-kun?” Sakura put a hand on his shoulder, sensing her husband’s anxiety. “Is something wrong?”

Sasuke sighed. “Every time I look at this sword, I’m reminded of every terrible thing I’ve done to those closest to me. Leaving the village, even though you begged me not to. Trying to kill Naruto to obtain more power. And I almost did so again with this very blade. At that time, I felt nothing of it. As if killing him wasn’t that big a deal.” He paused for a moment and Sakura didn’t say anything. “What do you think Sakura? Should I just throw this away?”

Again, there was a long pause. Sasuke would wait as long as he needed to hear her answer.

Then Sakura reached and touched the chokuto, lightly dragging her fingertips along its length. When her fingers reached his, she clasped her hand over his.

“I think you need to stop living in the past.” Sasuke looked at his wife surprised at her unexpected answer. “What happened, happened. It doesn’t matter to me what you’ve done back then, nor does it to Naruto, or anyone else in the village. We’ve already forgiven you Sasuke-kun. Have you forgiven yourself?” He wasn’t sure what to say.

“But… how can you… how can anyone just forget what I’redone to obtain power for a selfish cause? And you still haven’t answered my ques-” Sasuke was quickly cut off with a kiss from Sakura. He was caught off guard by the sudden action, but relaxed and accepted her inviting warm lips. It was a simple kiss, nothing more.

After a full ten seconds, Sakura broke her lips away and looked into Sasuke’s dark eyes with her emerald ones. “Oh just shut up Sasuke-kun.” He stared at his beautiful wife. “Just forgive and forget.” He took a few more seconds to consider it, and smiled one of his rare smiles only his family has ever seen.

“Hai.”

Sakura brought her attention back to the chokuto in his hand. “As for this sword, I think you should keep it. I’m sure after ten years this thing has saved more lives than taken.” She grabbed the sword out of his hand, inspected it a little, and tossed it to the couch. “Also,” she said looking seductively into his eyes, “I think it makes you look like a bad ass.”

Sasuke smirked. “You mean even more of a bad ass than I already am?”

“Oh yea.” Sasuke wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body closer.

“Does it turn you on, my Sakura-chan?”

That same shiver ran down her spine again. “M-Maybe.” He smirked again. He loved how much an affect he could have on her with just simple words. Sasuke brought his head down and lightly brushed his lips against hers. Sakura leaned forward to try and capture his lips, but he backed away to tease her. She groaned, pressing her body into him, and Sasuke gave in. Their lips crashed together initiating a heated kiss.

Their lack of time together from Sasuke being gone all day yesterday sparked a passion they haven’t felt for what seemed like months. Neither of them had to worry about their kids walking in on their make-out session. As gifted as the twins were, they couldn’t conceal their presence from their parents.

Nothing could stop this heat of the moment.

“Ahem.”

The two lovers instantly pulled away and looked at the intruder.

Shino stood in the doorway with an eyebrow raised. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

It was then that Sakura realized one of Sasuke’s hands firmly grabbing her ass with both of hers tangled in his hair. She jumped out of Sasuke’s grasp and blushed a deep red. “Sh-Shino… what-”

“Don’t you ever knock?” snapped Sasuke in a very irritated voice. He hated it when people interrupted his alone time with Sakura.

“I did. Three times in fact. But apparently some people were a little too preoccupied to notice.” Sasuke glared at the Aburame, but gave it up knowing it would have no affect on him. Shino was the only person who could sneak up on the great Uchiha Sasuke, a fact he always found a little creepy.

“Well what do you want?” he asked with no intention of trying to hide his annoyance.

Shino cleared his throat before he spoke. “Sorry to have interrupted your play time,” Sakura's blush deepened, “but Hokage-sama has requested your presence in an urgent meeting, Sasuke” Sasuke cocked his eyebrows questionably.

“A meeting? For what?”

“I’m not at liberty to speak of it. Just come to Hokage-sama’s office right away.”

“Hai.”

Shino’s body dissipated in a cloud of bugs. Sakura squeaked in fear and jumped behind Sasuke as the swarm flew out the door.

Sasuke let out an annoyed sigh. “That baka is showing off again.” Sakura looked at him slightly confused.

“What do you mean? That’s how Shino always is."

“I’m not talking about Shino. I’m talking about that dobe Rokudaime. Sending someone to deliver a message... everyone knows he can just use a Kagebunshin.”

“On come on Sasuke-kun, let him have his fun.”

“He’s been Hokage for a year now! You’d think he would at least grow up a little.” He grabbed his black jacket and slipped it on over his Jounin vest. Sakura adjusted his collar and zipped the vest up all the way.

“Just try not to hurt him too bad, okay?”

“Hn.” They walked to the open door and Sakura gave him a quick kiss before he headed out into the village.

Sasuke moved through a few trees before he emerged from the forest and the large village of Konohagakure came into sight. When he and Sakura got married six years ago, they built their home on the outskirts of the village. One would think that the last surviving Uchiha would want to live close to his old childhood home, but upon second thought, that wouldn’t be a good idea. The abandoned Uchiha residence was a place Sasuke rarely went. Now that Itachi was dead, the hate and desire for revenge he felt every time he went there was completely gone. That place only brought him pain and misery now.

Sasuke only went there once a year to remind himself of the tragedy that befell what was once his whole world. The first time he re-visited his home after 3 years away from Konoha, he destroyed all records of the Mangekyou Sharingan’s existence. He didn’t want future Uchiha generations to suffer the same hell he did.

And every year after he married Sakura, she would go with him. Evenafter Mikoto and Takashi were born, they would bring the twins along. Sasuke wanted his children to know what happened to their ancestors in order to prevent history from repeating itself. Though, they were a little too young to hear all the facts yet. Maybe he would tell them when they finally become ninja.

Sasuke jumped from rooftop to rooftop, slightly wishing they had built their home a little closer to the Hokage tower.

“Yo Sasuke!” To his left he saw Kiba and Akamaru join him. “You get called for that urgent meeting too?”

Sasuke nodded his head. “You have any idea what it’s about?”

“Not sure. I’m guessing it has to do with the conflict between Konoha and Amegakure.”

“Probably.”

Ever since Pein was killed, the Land of Rain’s economy slowly fell apart. The people of the country entrusted their fates into the Rinnegan user. But a couple years ago someone stepped up and lead Ame no Kuni back to prosperity. Even though Konoha heard about its new leader, they failed to gather any intelligence on who this mystery man was.

As if that didn't make Konoha nervous enough, just recently Amegakure accused the Leaf Village of unjustly murdering their former leader. To atone for their 'acts of crime', the Rain Village demanded Konoha give up the man who killed Pein; Naruto. Konoha refused many times, creating major tension between the two, and now people talked about a possible war breaking out soon.

"If it is about the conflict," spoke Sasuke, "it can't exactly be good news."

Kiba nodded his head and the three of them neared Hokage Tower.

10 Years Ago

It was a dark, rainy day. To many, it would have seemed cliche, but no one could deny the feeling of gloom in the whole village.

Sasuke walked down the road dressed all in black. Even though he'd been gone for three years, the Uchiha still remembered his way around the village like the back of his hand.

Two Anbu walked with him, one on either side. Tsunade had appointed them to watch Sasuke while he stayed in Konoha. After all, he was still considered a rogue ninja. Sasuke understood her reasoning and didn't say anything about it, but this did not make Naurto happy in the least. He argued with the Sannin for hours against it. He eventually was forced to give up as she told him the decision was made by the village elders and there was nothing she could do to change their minds.

When Sasuke looked up, he saw Naruto and Sakura at the doors to the tower, waiting for him.

Naruto took one look at the Anbu, and Sasuke could see his face growing frustrated.

Not too long after Sasuke met with his former teammates had Tsunade walked out and addressed the two Anbu. "That will be all for now. Wait here until afterwards."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

She nodded to the teens and they silently followed her. When they reached the top, they saw many people dressed in black, all facing one way. A lot of the faces Sasuke hadn't seen in a long time. Iruka, Lee, Neji, Tenten, Morino Ibiki, Kusaragi Anko, and even people from Sunagakure such as Temari and Gaara.

Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, and Tsunade took their place in the front, along with everyone else who had a close association in the recent events with the Akatsuki.

Everybody was silent.No one didn't even greet the four of them.The only noise heard was the rain pouring over the dreary scene.

At the front most part of the tower stood five coffins with pictures on them. They belonged to Jiraya, Kakashi, Gai, Yamato, and Kankuro.

Sasuke's attention drew first to Kankuro and Yamato's coffin.He heard about what happened to them.Naruto, Sakura, Yamato, Neji, and Lee, accompanied by Gaara and his siblings, managed to find the giant statue the Akatsuki had been using to seal the bijuu in. He didn't know all the details, but he heard they somehow destroyed it. As a result, all eight bijuu that were sealed inside emerged, freed from their prison. Though, they anticipated this could happen and brought with them eight special objects they would seal the bijuu in. The shinobi chased after the bijuu and while Yamato used his ability to suppress the demons, another would form the sealing jutsu and seal it in one of the artifacts.

With four of them sealed, the ninja got ready to seal Yonbi, but it destroyed its artifact and they had to seal it inside the mountain they were on.As soon as it was sealed, Shukaku came out of nowhere and attacked Gaara.Kankuro reacted fast, making Karasu grab Gaara, and used Kawarimi no Jutsu to switch places with his brother and puppet.

Kankuro was instantly killed.

Yamato turned his attentionand was about to use his ability to hold off Shukaku, but Gaara told him to save his energy and take care of the remaining demons. With Shukaku's artifact destroyed when the Ichibi attacked, Gaara performed the sealing jutsu, using himself as the host.

Seeing Kankuro killed proved too much for Naruto to handle. The Nibi Nekomata tried to sneak up on Naruto, but he had quickly transformed into the four-tailed state and killed the demon cat.

Now only one bijuu remained, Hachibi.But this one proved to be the strongest among the freed bijuu. It not only had eight tails, but eight heads as well! Its unrelenting attacks made it impossible for anyone to get close to it, let alone attempt to perform a Fuuin no Jutsu.

Then Naruto appeared, with five tails already, and had and intense battle with Hachibi.The eight headed serpent put up a good fight, but when a sixth tail appeared, Naruto managed to kill the bijuu.

Unfortunately, as soon as the battle was over, everyone saw two more tails beginning to form at the same time. Yamato acted quickly and activated his demon suppression technique and used it on Naruto, then had a sudden enormous increase of chakra. Lee knew exactly where Yamato was getting this chakra. He had unlocked Shimon: the Gate of Death.

Yamato was successful in restoring Naruto back to normal, but immediately died afterwards.

Now Sasuke's attention went to Jiraya and Gai's coffin. He heard what happened to them too. The Sannin was killed by Pein, but not before managing to send information on his encounter back to Konoha. Gai also died by Pein's hands. Gai would have probably won if he opened Shimon, but Pein wouldn't allow it and killed the Jounin before he could do so, which is what set Naruto off into the five tailed state and allowed him to kill the Akatsuki leader.

And last, Sasuke looked to Kakashi's coffin. The Uchiha was the only person still alive who had seen his former sensei's death. Kakashi came out of nowhere and tried to help Sasuke during his fight with Uchiha Madara, or rather, the fake Madara. The fake killed Kakashi and, for some reason, watching this filled Sasuke with rage and gave him the strength to defeat the other Uchiha.

The rain continued to fall on the gloomy scene. Sasuke looked around, spotting many people trying not to shed tears for the fallen shinobi. Lee looked to be having an especially hard time holding back his tears for his mentor. Even Gaara seemed to be grieving over the loss of his older brother.

Sasuke heard sobbing next to him and looked. It was coming from Sakura, whom had her eyes shut tight and tears threatening to spoll over. He felt a tug at his heart seeing Sakura like this. It was an unfamiliar feeling to him.

What was this sensation? And why did watching Sakura close to tears make him feel like this.

He wasn't given much time to ponder it becouse people soon started leaving. Everyone left one by one until only Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were left. The three of them didn't want to leave just yet. Just a few more minutes of reminiscence.

Finally, Naruto put his hands on Sasuke and Sakura's shoulders, nodded, and motioned for them to go.

They reached the bottom and saw Tsunade at the gate to the tower. She watched the three teens approached her and stopped them. "Naruto. Sakura." They looked at the Godaime. "You two can take the rest of the week off... if you want."

Naruto shut his eyes for a second, then opened them and politely declined her offer. Sakura, on the other hand, merely nodded her head and walked away heading home.

Sasuke watched as she went. She was hugging her abdomen tightly, her body shook, her head tilted downward slightly, and he could tell she was still trying to hold her tears in.

Without another thought, the two Anbu from before appeared and one pulled on Sasuke's arm. "Come on. Let's go."

At this point, Naruto just about had enough. "Tsunade!" Everyone stopped and looked at the Jinchuuriki. His hands balled into fists, teeth clenched, and eyes glaring at the Sannin. He didn't need to say anymore; the Sannin knew why he looked so pissed off.

Tsunade took Naruto's glare head on with unchanging eyes, and sighed.

One of the Anbu pulled on Sasuke's arm again. "Come on Uchiha-"

"Hold on." The two Anbu stopped.

"Yes Hokage-sama?"

"Let Sasuke walk by himself today."

"What? B-But Hokage-sama..."

"Don't worry about it," she said looking sternly at the two ninja. "He will go back in his holding cell. Right Sasuke?" Sasuke looked at her slightly surprised, but nodded his head.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The Anbu jumped out of sight and Tsunade left to go gack to her office.

Naruto's anger abated and he turned to Sasuke. The Uchiha was looking down the path Sakura was headed with an unusual look in his eyes. Naruto may not have been the smartest of the former rookie 9, but now he figured out something not even Sasuke could.

He put a hand on his shoulder. "Teme."

Sasuke looked at Naruto.

"Walk Sakura home."

Sasuke was slightly confused. "Me? Why not you?"

Naruto smacked the back of the Uchiha's head. Normally Sasuke would have hit him back at least twice as hard, but he just stood there baffled at the blonde's action.

"Don't you get it Sasuke-bastard?" Naruto paused and gave his friend his trademark kitsune-like smile. "Comfort her. Tell her everything will be all right. After all," Naruto walked past Sasuke, "your the only one who can make her feel better." The Uchiha watched Naruto as he ran off muttering something about Hinata.

***

Sasuke spotted the cherry blossom ahead. She was walking slowly, still hugging her sides. That same twinge pulling at his heart returned, but he tried to push it aside long enough to get his legs moving again.

With the stealth achievable only by a ninja of his calibur, though not really meaning to, Sasuke silently sneaked up on the girl.

"Sakura."

Sakura jumped and turned around startled. She relaxed when she saw who it was. "Sasuke-kun. Did you want something?" He heard the staggering in her voice and saw the red in her green orbs from crying.

He opened his mouth, then closed it unsure of what exactly to say. Making up his mind, Sasuke half forced the words out of him. "W-Would it be okay if... I walk you home?" Sakura was surprised. Half because of his unusual offer and half because he, Uchiha Sasuke, actually stuttered.

Still taken aback by his question, she nodded. "Sure."

The two continued on their path to her home in silence. A light rain continued to fall from the sky as Sasuke tried to evaluate the meaning behind what Naruto said to him. 'I'm the only one who can make her feel better? What is that suppose to mean? And why me?'

He looked out of the corner of his eyes at the girl walking next to him. Her face still looked sad, but he couldn't tell whether the water droplets on her face were from crying or the rain. And the rain may not have been cold, but he could see the cherry blossom shivering a little. He wished he had an umbrella now. He would offer her shade from the offending rain. She would be dry so she wouldn't look as sad as she felt. The umbrella's size would leave them no choice but to get closer to each other...

Wait, what was he thinking? Why were these thoughts suddenly popping up in his mind? No, the real question: why did he recently find himself caring for her well being? Such feelings had never been invoked whenever she was near before he left the village. Not even during their brief 'reunion' at Orochimaru's lair.

Could this have anything to do with what Naruto said? Did that dobe know something he didn't? Naruto's words echoed in his mind.

'Don't you get it?'

Get what?

'Tell her everything will be all right.'

Why?

'Comfort her.'

Why?

'Your the only one who can make her feel better.'

Why?!

"Sasuke-kun?"

He pulled his mind back to reality at her voice and realized they had reached her home.

She looked up at the raven haired ninja. "Arigatou, Sasuke-kun." He could still sense a hint of strain in her voice. "I'm glad you came back." She smiled, but Sasuke wasn't fooled by this. He knew it was a forced smile. She was trying to hide her emotions from him.

"Sakura..."

"I guess... I'll see you later then." She turned and reached for the doorknob.

No, he didn't want her to leave just yet.

"Wait Sakura!" Sasuke grabbed her arm and pulled the pink haired girl away from the door, making her body run into his. Both of them seemed to be equally shocked by his sudden action.

"S-Sasuke-kun? What..." Sasuke's heartbeat hastened with the closeness of their bodies. Not knowing what else to do, he wrapped and arm around her shoulders and pulled her body to his.

"Sakura, don't try to fool me." Her eyes widened. Sasuke was surprising her more and more since he returned. "But... don't cry. I promise... from now on, everything will get better. So... onegai, don't cry."

At first Sakura didn't know how to react. She could hear the quick beating of his heart, and relaxed her head against his chest allowing him to hold her.

"Hai. Arigatou, Sasuke."

Present Day

Knock Knock Knock

Sasuke waited in front of the door to the Hokage's office with Kiba and Akamaru. He stood impatiently tapping his foot. They could hear movement from within the room.

Then the door opened and Naruto's smiling face appeared.

"What's up Sas-"

Sasuke smashed his fist into Naruto's face. The blow sent Naruto flying back, then he dissappeared in a cloud of smoke. A shadow clone.

"Hahahaha!"

Sasuke looked and saw Naruto, the real Naruto, sitting at a desk pointing at Sasuke and laughing. "See guys? I told you he would do that!"

Author's note: There's the first chapter for you! I know it was lacking in the action, and there's not going to be much in the next one either, but I promise there will be more later. Hmm... what else is there to say? Oh, I probably won't have chapter 2 done for at least a couple weeks, but please keep reading!