Chapter Three: Not Even God Can Change the Past

"Ku..ku...Sasuke-kun, Kabuto and I didn't expect you back so soon," Orochimaru cackled to the obviously distraught Sasuke.

Replying to Orochimaru with an inarticulate grunt, Sasuke shunned his superiors and headed deeper into the base.

When Sasuke-kun was a safe distant away, Kabuto took a chance and dared to open his mouth.

"So, do you think he knows about our little 'pet project'?"

Shooting Kabuto an icy glare, Orochimaru answered, "in time..."

"I heard your mission was a total bust, but that was only some of the rumors," Ino and her gossip; Sakura pondered as she leaned herself up against the glass counter of the Yamanka flower shop.

"...The rumors..." Sakura struggled to get out the right words, and Ino drew her short attention-span back to Sakura.

"Did any of the rumors, mention anything about me...me and...him..."

Ino's cerulean eyes grew wide, but quickly narrowed as her face fell into a somber frown.

"Well, there was one tidbit I eavesdropped from some ANBU, but it's something I haven't told anyone, or openly spread." Sakura nodded for Ino to continue, and an air of silence hung over the small flower shop.

"Apparently, well, they think Orochimaru has gained access to another Sharingan user," Ino spoke delicately as possible.

"Huh?"

Sakura's eyes lit up as she leaned in closer. "So you're saying that not all Uchiha were eliminated during the massacre! That's great...well not great in a good sense; but Sasuke isn't so alone anymore!"

Ino backed away from the eager Sakura. "You see, that's just it. They think it's a post-massacre Uchiha."

"Wha..t..." Biting her lip, it took Sakura a few seconds to draw a conclusion from this information.

"So, like, Itachi knocked someone up or something?"

What was Ino getting at? Checking to make sure no-one else was in the room, Ino sighed while bringing her acrylic nails to Sakura's right ear.

"Or something.." The was a slight pause as Ino second-thought informing Sakura of the 'rumor'. Though as her friend, Ino knew she was wholly obligated to tell her.

"They think...it's your's."

The room began to spin. Clenching her stomach while her eyes glazed, Sakura tried to deny the inevitable.

"Ino, it can't be...I..." Sakura knew whispers and rumors had begun to spread since the day she returned from the fatal mission one year ago, but her most recent encounter had sparked an interest from ANBU that was not present beforehand.

"Don't worry Sakura, you know how those Black Ops can get. Making up delusional stories just so their job can seem a bit more interesting. At times they can be worse than the tabloids," Ino cooed as she attempted to comfort her shaken friend.

"Ino, it's alright. I'm alright,"

-No she wasn't.-

"What happened in Sound, well, it's in the past. It's too late for tears now."

Why was she denying her true feelings? Because of guilt? Shame? Maybe a mix of both.

-No, it's never too late to cry-; Sakura thought while biting her lip to hold back tears.

"I killed them..." A look of displeasure crossed a young girl's face, but strands of her unruly flaxen hair hid the expression.

"Good," Her superior commented smugly. This answer obviously did not fit well with the girl, causing her to lash back at the man.

"Good! You told me I would get to see Mommy, but instead I ended up attacking her friends. You're a...big fat liar!" With her violet eyes on the verge of tears, the girl turned around, attempting to make a break for it.

A naïve move. Even for someone so young.

She got only a few yards before snakes blocked her only path; the girl was not escaping that easily.

Stumbling backwards in terror, she crawled up against a tree, kicking her feet in attempt to ward off the vicious summons.

"So this is your latest experiment, Orochimaru..." Sasuke implied. In the distance, one could hear Orochimaru's trademark cackle, causing both Sasuke and the girl to become tense.

"Leave me ALONE!" A childish wail shook the forest of Sound, that is, until Sasuke smothered the girl's mouth.

"Mmhmmhh..." Seconds passed until Sasuke finally let go, causing the girl to collapse onto the ground, gasping for air. Before she could catch her breathe, Sasuke brazenly asks her, "What is your name?"

Pushing herself up from the ground, the young girl blew a light strand of hair away from her face. "My name? Well I'm often referred to as Shinkyoku, but you can call me Yoku."

Examining the dirt covered girl, Sasuke sarcastically laughed. "For someone so young, answering to Orochimaru; Well all I can say is have a nice trip to Dante's Inferno."

Straightening her posture, Yoku brushed some foliage off her skirt. "On the contrary, I'd say that's where you're ending up. Orochimaru explained everything to me, Daddy. And there you were, thinking I could just be dealt with; like some infectious disease."

-Wait, What did she just call him?-

Could she be? Sasuke double checked the girl. Large violet eyes, fair, not too blond-not too brown, hair, and a small button nose. She was lying.

-No, she HAD to be lying.-

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I know for sure I am not your father," Sasuke reprimanded to Yoku. As her face fell into a mischievous grin, Sasuke was convinced the girl was delirious.

"Or are you?"

"So it's been confirmed, a Sharingan user killed the two casualties..." Shikamaru told Sakura solemnly. Even if it was too troublesome for him to keep up in lore of local gossip, since this was such a highly acknowledged mission, Shikamaru couldn't help but eavesdrop on a few conversations.

And from the bits and pieces he heard, Sakura needed to be the first to know the truth.

With her jade eyes wide with curiosity, she asked him, "But...how?"

Shikamaru wanted to sigh, but he promised Ino he'd be careful around Sakura. Some troublesome thing about being in a 'fragile emotion state'.

"Well for starters, this little sharingan bugger took a shuriken and..."

-That's enough...-

"No!" Sakura was tempted to slam her door in Shikamaru's face, but she knew no good would come of that.

"No, Shikamaru. I meant, how did this Sharingan user come to existence? Ino and I talked today, and they think..."

Misty eyed, Sakura was surprised when she felt Shikamaru's hands slip through her arms. And here she was assuming he was too lazy to bother being a decent friend.

"Sakura, let's just say Orochimaru is a sick man, and leave it at that." Sakura blinked her eyes, but then quickly nodded in an epiphany.

"Look at Yamato, for all we know he has an army of DNA grafted bloodline carriers hidden within Sound." Shikamaru was right, though Sakura still wasn't sure where she fell into all of this...

-"Did it feel pain?"- Oh shit.

Suddenly everything clicked in Sakura's mind. And you know what? It was sickening.

'He wouldn't do something to..' Squeezing Shikamaru tighter, she didn't care how awkward the moment felt. Sakura just needed a tangible form of comfort. And in a typical Shikamaru way, he was standing right there; why waste the energy to seek out someone else?

"Can you stay?" If Ino hadn't been so troublesome and demanded for Shikamaru to be gentle with Sakura, then maybe he wouldn't have agreed to Sakura's request.

Or would he?

Yoku didn't understand why Daddy was so mad. As she watched his body tremble, Yoku could almost feel the vibrations yards away.

Maybe he wasn't mad, but scared, Yoku thought. Might he have seen the angel standing beside to her?

Violet eyes drifted their attention towards a magnificent winged creature, dilating as it's soft glow intensified.

But that wouldn't make sense, what malicious emotion could such a divine creature stir from within?

"What should we do?" Yoku inwardly asked the angel. Placing a luminous hand on the girl's shoulder, the angel softly smiled.

"How could she do...why..." Sasuke mumbled with delusion.

-Were those tears?-

As she watched Daddy cry, goosebumps developed on Yoku's alabaster skin, raising the fine hairs along her arms. Yoku's lips pursed, trying to form words of comfort, but nothing could come out. She was too bashful to approach him.

The angel on the other hand, was a bit more outgoing.

Sakura never considered herself the religious type. Whether to God or Gods, her belief in the divine was skeptical at best.

So when Sakura kneeled down at the alter and made a sign of the cross, she couldn't help but feel like a hypocrite.

She was a ninja.

Her job, no her mission, always came first, regardless of the lives she was forced to prematurely end along the way – including her unborn child's.

Clenching the rosary beads that fell above her neckline, Sakura began to recite a line of the 'Ave Maria'.

"Et benedictus fructus ventris,"

It was one of the last missions Sakura attended before Sasuke's betrayal. Team Seven had been assigned to protect a Catholic missionary returning to Europe after a trip to the far east; but other than that, it was a quite simple, D rank.

As Sakura washed up by the river, an elegant melody drifted through the river bank's meadow. Pursuing the voice, soprano without a doubt, the tune became much clearer. Like a faint memory, Sakura could've sworn she'd heard the song before.

Pushing her way through the riverside brush, Sakura eventually discovered the melody's origin; the missionary.

"Ave Maria, gratia plea..." Listening in awe, nothing Sakura ever heard before sounded so bittersweet.

As she watched the woman sing, delicately taking in every word, it wasn't long until Sakura could sing along to the verses.

Dominus tecum," Sakura's abnormally powerful voice belted out.

"Huh?" Turning around, the missionary was astonished by the passion that Sakura emitted while singing. Flashing Sakura a friendly smile, the older woman gestured for Sakura to come closer.

"That was...beautiful. The song..." The missionary nodded in agreement while reaching into her shirt to retrieve a rosary.

"Have you ever seen one of these before?" She asked. Sakura recognized the cross. Even if most ninjas didn't observe a religion, Christianity always managed to captivate the pink haired nin.

Sakura silently nodding to the missionary, while the older woman went on to explain. "It's a rosary. The song I was singing, it isn't just a song. It's the prayer, Ave Maria."

As Sakura's jade eyes drifted to the glass beads strung around the missionary's neck, she realized where she heard Ave Maria before.

Sasuke played the same tune on his flute.

"I want you to have these..." The missionary's generous offer left Sakura uncharacteristically speechless.

"But they're so elegant. And look expensive. I'm sorry, but I just can't take them from you. I'm not even Catholic..." Before Sakura could resist, the missionary removed the rosary and tenaciously pushed the beads in Sakura's direction.

"They came all the way from Rome. Blessed by one of the Vatican's high ranking Bishops. You're a ninja. Don't tell me you've never had one moment when you wished there was someone, or something, to turn for guidance. Just have a little faith."

Sakura couldn't sum up the courage to speak back. Succumbing to the missionary's offer, she cupped out her hands. As the missionary slipped the rosary into Sakura's palm, she couldn't help but gaze down at them in marvel.

-Maybe she's right, just have a little faith.-

Reaching into her vest, Sakura revealed the glass beads she received so long ago, and continued to chant the Ave Maria.

"Good afternoon, dear." 'Oh great, a priest...' Sakura sighed. Ninjas don't believe, nor observe, any faith. Sakura wasn't up to being judged, not by her friends, coworkers, or even someone as holy as thy.

"I know what you must think," Sakura muttered to the Priest. The somewhat jolly man looked down at the praying girl, not quite getting her statement.

"Pardon?"

"Don't tell me you don't find it any bit suspicious that a ninja, you know, the fancy dolled up name for murderer, in a church? Doesn't it seem like heresy, just letting me kneel her, taint this holy place?" Suddenly the Priest's eyes softened.

"Come here, my child."

Standing up, Sakura tucked away the glass beads, hiding the only only proof that she believed in the divine. Following the Priest down a long row of pews, they both stopped when they reached the tabernacle.

"The body of Christ. Do you actually believe...it's in there?" The Priest smiled.

"Even when things seem impossible, when you learn to trust God it's hard not to believe."

Was he trying to be cryptic? Sakura looked back down at her hands. Something was different. She no longer felt dirty. Even though she was covered in a mixture of dirt and blood. That feeling. A big weight had been lifted off her shoulder, in more ways then she realized. Everyone makes mistakes, all Sakura needed to believe was God forgives.

"Thank you, Father..."

"As a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear – beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear," Yoku spoke in a low, nearly inaudible voice.

Sasuke momentarily snapped out of his self pity, recognizing the infamous lines.

"Romeo always had quite a way with words," he replied, procuring a haughty smile from the somewhat serious girl.

"Was that what she was to you?" Yoku asked, Sasuke left jaded by the girl's question.

"Let's just say I took my exile without protest, leaving Juliet to Benvolio's heart." Even though he wasn't sure what answer the girl was looking for, Sasuke had the strange feeling she was going to be sticking around.

"Pretty lame tragedy if you ask me..." Pushing a strand of her golden hair aside, Yoku let out an innocent yawn.

Looking up at the moon, Sasuke could make a decent assumption of the time. "It's late, maybe you should go to bed."

Nodding, Yoku walked towards Sasuke and slipped her arms between his. "Tuck me in."

Though awkward, this moment awakened something dormant inside Sasuke's heart.

A dim candle provided the only illumination in her room, not that Orochimaru's hideout had much light anyway. Next to her candle was a large stack of books, ranging from Sophocles to T.S. Elliot.

Dressed in an oversized t-shirt, Yoku quietly slipped under the covers. Approaching the quietly nestled girl, Sasuke gingerly ran his hand through Yoku's hair.

"Tell me a story," Yoku whined, and Sasuke's hand shot back.

"I don't know any," he answered smugly. Yoku wasn't giving up that easy.

"Then read me something," And she pointed to the stack of books neatly piled on the other side of the room.

Sifting through hardcover novels and first edition paperbacks, Sasuke was somewhat overwhelmed by the variety of literature the girl possessed, especially for someone that should be around the age of one.

"Actually, I think I just remembered one," Sasuke told his enthusiastic daughter.

"What's it about, Daddy?" Yoku asked Sasuke eagerly.

"God."