1-6-10

Revising stories.

SEE PROFILE FOR DETAILS ON WHICH CHAPTERS HAVE ALREADY BEEN UPDATED.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor am I affiliated with Masashi Kishimoto.

The kunoichi glared at her husband, and kept her arms folded across her chest so as to keep them under control. She often lost her composure with her husband, and they would end up in physical fights. This time, however, was not a time to display any sense of immaturity. She was dead serious.

She glanced in the mirror to her left, and saw that her eyes reflected both pain and extreme anger. Averting her eyes, she took a step forward so that her view of the mirror would be obstructed by the door. She cleared her throat loudly, and waited for his eyes to meet her own.

Nothing.

Leaning against the door frame to their bedroom, she watched as he finished gathering his supplies for his four month long mission to the border.

She scowled as he roughly shoved his way past her into the kitchen, still not meeting her eyes.

"Sasuke..." She began, doing her best not to convey her feelings through her voice. She waited for him to show some sign of acknowledgement; a nod, a glance, a word, something.

Nothing.

Feeling her anger beginning rise rapidly, she took a deep breath and attempted to steady herself before she continued. She was going to say it, even if it killed her, because she was already dying. Her life was unbearable.

"Sasuke... I want a divorce." She said in the firmest tone she could muster. She mimicked the flat, strong, decisive tone that Tsunade had always used on anyone lower in authority than she.

"No." He stated in his usual cold tone, also wordlessly telling her not to argue. He didn't even respect her enough to meet her eyes as he refused her statement.

"No?" she asked incredulously. He was speaking to her as if she was a small child, of which he expected to obey him without question. Her voice rose quite a few decibels.

"Sakura. The Uchiha Clan has never had a divorce within it's ranks before and ours is not going to be the first." He stated matter of factly.

"What clan?" she sputtered.

"Be quiet."

"There is no clan, nor will there ever be!" She yelled, turning on her heel and stomping towards the kitchen as she yelled. "The only possible chance your clan has is if your brother finds himself a girl, and I sincerely doubt that is ever going to happen." She had pretty much kicked him in the balls with that statement. Sasuke was sterile, and she had kept her mouth shut about it over the past few years, but she was PISSED. "So just give me a divorce. What's the point in keeping me as a hostage wife?"

She was cut off by the sting of his hand against her cheek.

"Not another word you ungrateful little wretch." He growled as she slowly lifted her gaze to his, pain and hate radiating from her expression.

Picking up his backpack, he turned on his heel, and slammed the door as he stepped out into the cool Konoha morning.

Sakura let go of the breath that she'd been holding.

She was thankful that she had controlled herself. Despite the fact that they had fought many times, she was still never eager to engage in a fight with Uchiha Sasuke. She knew Tsunade's secrets, but all she had ever managed to do was land a punch on his abdomen before he overpowered her. After all, she was only a medic-nin, one of the strongest, but still no match for an ANBU.

She stepped into the painfully white bathroom and surveyed the deep scarlet handprint that had been left on the flawless skin of her cheek in the mirror. With a sigh, she gathered chakra in her palm until a dull blue light illuminated her whole hand. Pressing the chakra into the skin of her cheek, she watched as the mark disappeared beneath her touch.

Thankfully she was on vacation leave from the hospital. She was not in any mood to go to work today. She had originally taken it to catch up on some physical training.

She sidled back into her bedroom, and her eyes landed on a picture framed with wire, and hanging on the wall. Pictured were the images of her two teammates when they were twelve, along with her, and their sensei.

…Kakashi.

An idea stuck her. Kakashi would help her with her training, wouldn't he? If he refused, she could always just guilt him into it by telling him about Sasuke. Was that too far?

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of rapid knocking on her door. Retying her robe, she made her way to the door. She already knew who it was because the knocking kept going, and going, incessantly.

Naruto.

As she pulled open the heavy wooden front door she saw the blonde headed kitsune looking worried.

"Sakura-chan! Are you okay?! I saw Sasuke on his way out of town and he looked pretty pissed off." He asked, stepping inside.

"I'm fine Naruto." She stated. She appreciated the thought, but it just wasn't that big of a deal to her anymore. She just wanted out of the situation because it was exhausting.

"He hit you again, didn't he?

"I'm fine Naruto."

"I've told you before, if you hadn't already asked me not to, I would have already beat the crap out of him ages ago. All's you need to do is say the word and BAM!" He punched the air, and scowled.

"No... please don't." She wanted to do it herself, and Kakashi would be the key to solving her problem.

"Sakura..." Naruto began, laying an arm across her shoulders. "One of these days he's going to end up killing you." He let her go as she shrugged off his arm, and stepped into the kitchen.

He shook his head, and took a seat on the black leather sofa as she brought out a glass of milk for him. Had it been anyone else, she would have given them coffee but Naruto despised it. He was still such a child at heart.

That was why she loved him.

"He's just upset about his clan Naruto. I mean, if you found out you couldn't complete your goal of becoming Hokage, and there was absolutely nothing you could do about it, how would you feel?" she reasoned, taking a seat in the chair across from his and sipping her coffee.

"Terrible... but still, that gives him no right to take it-"

"He'll get over it. He's going to the border so maybe it will give him time to let it go." She interrupted.

"It's been over a year." He shook his head, "And even if he did get over it, then what? I don't know that much about love, but from what I've experienced, I think it would be almost impossible for you to love him after he put you through so much pain." He reasoned, apparently in one of his extremely rare "smart moods"

"Just don't worry about it. I'll take care of it." She was torn. On one hand, she wanted it to be like it was in the beginning. On the other, she had been hurt, badly. She knew what she had to do, but her heart still held a drop of hope for Sasuke.

"Sakura. Do you really love him? I mean I know you do as a friend and as a teammate, but do you really love him as a spouse? Like, I know he made you feel loved in the beginning, but you know this is who he really is…" Now, he was beginning to scare her. He was making so much sense of all of the things she had been confused over for so long, but this was Naruto. When did he got so smart?!

"... Naruto...? Thank you."

"Now… get dressed. I'm under very strict orders from Hinata to make sure you get dressed and come eat at Ichiraku's with us. In fact, she's probably waiting right now, so hurry up." Naruto smiled, breaking the seriousness in the room.

"Naruto..." she began uncertainly.

"Do it."

With a sigh, she stepped into her bedroom and opened the drawer of her dresser with the small selection of clothing without an Uchiha fan on it. The clothing was a bit tight, she hadn't worn them in at least a year and a half, but it would do. She threw on a simple black tank top and pair of low-rise jeans.

She quickly ran a hairbrush through her pink tresses as she walked into the bathroom. She pulled her hair back into a messy ponytail, and watched in the mirror as some loose strands fell and framed her face. She had chopped her bangs shorter, and layered her hair more. It had been a very long time since she'd gone anywhere with her friends, and she was pleased at how cute she still looked in her old clothes.

Slipping on her long black coat, she walked out into the living room to see Naruto putting his cup on the kitchen counter

"Finally." He sighed, standing up. "Let's go. Women take so long in the bathroom."

"Naruto…. It hasn't even been five minutes."

"I wouldn't have even taken two."