FLICKERING LIFELINES

Summary: Sakura shares a memory with her husband that she only shared with Naruto once before on a subject that didn't feel like it was ever closed. Itachi. (Spoilers for Road to Ninja)

This was a little thing that came to mind while I was watching Road to Ninja (6th Naruto film). I thought it was interesting so I dipped my toe back into the SasuSaku pool. Hope it's alright.

Enjoy.

much love,

day

In the earliest days of her pregnancy Sakura found herself sharing things with her husband that she had long since shelfed to never really be talked about. Perhaps it was the nostalgia of finding herself completely content with life with few worries. She worried about Sasuke more than anyone else but she had come to grips with many things in their shared life, and nothing really bothered as much as the thought of the things he didn't have anymore.

His brother was always on his mind. She could read it on him. Especially when he goes to visit his grave – she accompanies him sometimes, wanting to be near him when he's conflicted and feeling lost when he is in the town of Konoha.

This is only the second day he's been back since she sent word to him via his hawk that she was pregnant. She had thought about going to find him herself but found it was easier to get the little notice to him before dealing with anything else. Tsunade and Shizune had been adamant that she not do anything stupid considering her fainting spells. There would be no way to help her if she went alone. Naruto had been away on a mission with Hinata-chan. She planned to tell them both when they got back.

Hinata who had already begun to show would have already been able to tell. Her husband on the other hand not so much. She loved Naruto but he was a bit dense sometimes. It had taken him ages to figure out that Hinata was in love with him despite how many times she had confessed her feelings for him. She nearly killed herself trying to protect him several times over. Hinata was pretty much everything that the idiot needed and so much more. Sakura was glad for both of them.

On her spectrum things were better than they used to be. Sasuke never did anything to directly hurt her anymore and he had decided that she wasn't so annoying anymore. He had asked her to marry him after some time of them dawdling in between the lines of a few dates, and long months of not really seeing much of each other between his path to redemption and her long hours at the hospital. They had just said fuck it to everything else and make it permanent. She believed his words were, "I think I screwed you over more times than I care to admit, so I want to get this one thing right…"

It took her a few minutes after he officially popped the question to make sure he wasn't just doing this because he knew it's what she always wanted. Despite what they had done for each other, what they had experienced. The saw the frustration clear on his face but he managed to not curse her out and be genuine about his intentions – even going so far as to tell her that he had discussed it with her parents along with the addition of Kakashi (a surrogate parent in some light) and Tsunade who wanted to know whenever he moved in any light. The hardest obstacle had been discussing it with Sakura's mother and Tsunade. They were so much like Sakura that it was difficult to go over why he was doing this and admitting that he a) held the pinkette in high regards as a person despite his feelings b) was in love with her and wanted to do this one good thing for the both of them c) he wasn't going to turn his back on her. It was like trudging through quicksand but at some point it had just worked.

Thus, they were here. A late night in the small home that Sakura had obtained years ago. Sasuke ended up finding peace here at some point and decided he wanted to stay. He knew that in part it was because of Sakura.

They were sitting at the circular dining table – Sasuke using his one hand to drink his coffee. This was their only time to talk like this without anyone else crowding around and interfering. "I met him once…" She sighed, smiling a little as Sasuke inclined his head in one slow movement so that he was staring at her.

His expression blank but with a small glimmer of curiosity. This was also Sakura's cue to go into further detail.

"Your brother." She tried to avoid saying Itachi's name, not knowing what it would do to him now. Sasuke had briefly glossed over the fact that he had been able to have a heartfelt goodbye with his brother during the war. He didn't go into details but Sakura had known that that had been important to him. After killing him for revenge with less answers it was good for the lone survivor to know that Itachi still cared for him even after all of that.

Sasuke sat down his cup and angled his body so that his wife would know that she had grabbed his attention completely. "When?" He breathed.

"It was sometime before the war. It's kind of complicated really but I met him…a version of him I suppose."

Sasuke said nothing, but Sakura could see his brain working trying to pick up the little things that she said. She continued on, "Naruto and I were trapped in the other world by Madara, before he completely unleashed it on the world. It was a test but the Akatsuki were there, working with Tsunade to aid Naruto. Naruto asked Itachi to keep an eye on me. So he protected me." Just as he had protected you, she wanted to say but she kept that to herself.

He seemed to get it. A small smile appeared on his face. "Interesting."

"Yeah." She reached over for his hand which she squeezed. "He was a good person."

Sasuke squeezed back. He didn't have to say anything, she knew.