Hello, everybody! I'm exhausted... It's like midnight here, but I stayed up to write you guys this chapter like I said I would, so here's chapter 18.

            They traveled for a couple days, Sakura learning something new about Naruto and Sasuke every day. It was great. To save time, however, Sasuke ended up carrying her the whole time, which was fine with her because she got to be close to him all the time, but she still felt a little bad. It was weird how her body craved him. Any time she was away from him, she itched to be near him. Even when sleeping, she had woken to find herself pressed up against him, and they would both be red-faced for the rest of the day.

            Now however, it seemed that they were nearing their destination, Konoha as they called it, because Naruto was getting giddy, and his sleep talking was getting... well kinky. Even Sasuke seemed happy to be going home. He seemed more relaxed than usual, and she almost caught him smiling a couple times. Almost. Sakura herself was pretty excited. She would be discovering a whole new world, a whole new life, new people. It was going to be amazing.

            They were currently soaring through the trees, Sakura in Sasuke's arms as usual, and very happy about it too. She wanted to learn how to jump through the trees too since she was pretty sure she was capable. It was so fun. She giggled to herself, and Sasuke glanced at her, his bangs whipping around his face.

            "What?" he asked.

            "Nothing," she hummed.

            "You're very annoying, you know that?"

            "I know."

            After a while, Sakura could feel in her bones that they were fast approaching the village, her home. Suddenly Naruto slowed down to their pace, and gave a pointed look to Sasuke who tensed. Sakura suddenly got worried.

            "What's going—hey!" she exclaimed when Sasuke threw his cloak over her head.

            She tried to remove it, but Sasuke's hand kept it firm.

            "Stop moving," he ordered.

            "Why? And why can't I see?" she asked grumpily.

           "It's not a sight for your eyes," was all she heard back.

            "What do you—" but Sasuke ignored her.

            "How long ago do you think this was?" he asked.

            "Pretty recent. Maybe a couple days ago," Naruto's voice came.

           "Hn."

            "Don't worry, I'm sure that everyone's fine. It is still a good distance away from the village," Naruto's voice came, but it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than anything.

            Sakura moved very slowly so as to push up the cloak with her finger, and made an opening big enough to see out of with one eye. She had to bite down hard on her tongue to keep from screaming. Below them was what had clearly been a battlefield. Grass was pulled up, in some places the ground was scorched, and blood stained the dirt. And the bodies; bodies everywhere, but they were different than normal human corpses. They were completely white and mangled, with green on the top of what seemed to be their heads.

            "It seems like they already took away the casualties on our side," Sasuke commented wryly.

            "Sasuke!" Naruto protested.

            "What? You know as well as I do that we'd never survive a battle like this without a lot of casualties. Especially without you and me," Sasuke said, bitterness apparent in his voice. "If only I hadn't..."

            "There's no use beating yourself up about it, so let's just hurry back and help them," Naruto said softly.

            "...Ok."

            And they were off again.

            Naruto was ahead of them again now, and Sasuke finally spoke to her, "You looked anyway, didn't you?"

            "Wh-What?" she asked, shocked.

            How had he known?

            "You look like you've just seen a ghost and you're trembling," Sasuke said in answer to her unasked question.

            "Eh?"

            Sakura looked down at her hands to see them white and trembling.

            "Ah... I guess I am," she said, her voice shaking.

            Of course she had seen blood before—it didn't faze her—but she had never witnessed the carnage of a battlefield before. She snuggled unconsciously closer to Sasuke and knotted her hands under his cloak in his shirt. He flinched at her sudden action, but didn't say a word. She leaned her head against his chest.

            "Sasuke-kun, what were those things?"

            He stiffened.

            "They definitely weren't... human," she continued.

            "They're what we call White Zetsus. We don't exactly know what they are. Just that someone is making them and that they multiply quickly. And now somehow they've even made weapons to stop those of us with re-generation," he explained.

           "How long has this been going on?" Sakura asked.

            "Practically my whole life. It's completely exhausted us, yet we're still hanging on," he chuckled bitterly.

            "Your whole life?" Sakura asked incredulously.

            "Every time we gain a step, they seem to be ten steps ahead of us, always more soldiers than us, always improving. It's maddening," he gritted out angrily, and his grip on her tightened painfully.

            She winced, and he let go, muttering an apology. Sakura stayed quiet, thinking on all that she had learned. What was she getting herself into?

            They didn't meet any trouble on the way, thankfully, and soon enough Sakura could see two large gates and a big wall in the distance. Excitement mounted in her again, and she clenched the fabric of Sasuke's shirt tightly in her fist. He glanced down at her, and smirked knowingly. She blushed embarrassedly, and buried her face in his chest. She could feel his chest vibrate as he chuckled slightly, and she loved it.

            "Konoha, here we come! I'm home, baby!" Naruto yelled into the air.

            She laughed and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

            They were fast approaching the gates, and two figures were visible on top of the walls in the distance. Naruto waved at them, and the two figures started whooping and cheering, and ran away.

            "They're probably going to inform everyone that we're back," Sasuke said.

            Sakura looked up at him, and saw a soft expression on his face; the one someone has when returning home. It must be a great feeling. Sakura wanted to feel that feeling coming here too.

            They landed in front of the massive gates, and they started to open, slowly revealing a shadowy figure in the doorway. As soon as they opened completely, a tall man with a raven ponytail was revealed, smiling serenely. He reminded her strangely of Sasuke, but a gentler version. He was taller than him though with kind onyx eyes, and tan skin, two lines running down his face. His hair wasn't as dark as Sasuke's, and it was tied back in a low ponytail. He was wearing an army green vest on top of a black shirt, and the same headband Naruto had around his forehead with that same symbol etched into the metal.

            "Nii-san..." Sasuke muttered, and Sakura looked up at him.

            Nii-san?

            "I'm glad you're back, Sasuke. I knew you could do it," the man said, smiling gently.

            Wow, this guy seemed to be almost the complete opposite of Sasuke. They were related?

            "Itachi!" Naruto cried and launched himself at the now known Itachi.

            "Oh! I missed you as well, Naruto. I'm glad to see that you're alright."

            "Well, you know me. I always bounce back, dattebayo," Naruto grinned.

            The man's gaze flicked to Sakura, and he blinked in surprise before smiling at her.

            "Hello. Who might you be?"

            Sakura blushed; he was so nice!

            "S-Sakura," she muttered.

            "Well, nice to meet you, Sakura. I'm glad to see my brother has found someone he's comfortable holding like that," he smiled with closed eyes.

            Sakura's face went red, and Sasuke sounding very flustered said, " N-Nii-san!"

            Itachi laughed, and waved his hand.

            "Sorry, sorry. I've just been so worried that I'm dispensing it by teasing you."

            "But you probably should put me down," Sakura whispered to Sasuke.

            "Right," he said.

            He put her down gently under Itachi's watchful eye. He opened his arms towards them, and looked at Sasuke expectantly. Sasuke sighed and looked at those around him, meaning Sakura and Naruto.

            "No," he said.

            "But Sasuke, your Nii-san has been so worried about you!" Itachi said, making puppy eyes.

            He was so adorable it was ridiculous.

            "If you don't hug him, I will," Sakura declared, seriously wanting to hug him back.

            Sasuke got a weird look on his face, and immediately stood in front of Sakura.

            "Fine..." he muttered.

            He walked awkwardly over to Itachi who wrapped his arms around him affectionately.

            "Aaw," Sakura and Naruto cooed.

           "Shut up!" Sasuke barked.

           "NARUTO-KUN!" a feminine voice cried out.

            Everyone swiveled around to see a pale-eyed beauty running towards them. As soon as she was close enough, she literally launched herself into Naruto, who made an inhuman sound as she collided with his stomach and they both tumbled to the floor. She peered up at him through her raven bangs with furious tears in her eyes.

            "How. Dare. You. Worry. Me," she shouted, punctuating each word with a pound of her fists on his chest.

            "Ow! Hinata! Stop hitting me for just one second!" Naruto protested, finally grabbing her by the forearms.

            He then pulled her to him roughly and smashed his lips on hers. Sakura gasped in surprise, and watched as Hinata tried to struggle for a second before she melted into it, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

            "Oh my..." Sakura whispered, her hands half-covering her face because she couldn't bring herself to not watch.

            "Aw, this makes me miss my mate," Itachi said, suddenly appearing behind her.

            Sakura jumped and turned around to see a smiling Itachi.

           "Mate?" she questioned.

            Itachi blinked at her and looked at Sasuke, who seemed to have warning signals flashing in his eyes.

            "Oh... Never mind then. Speaking of, Sasuke, you should go home and see Mina, Kaa-san, and Tou-san. They were all out, so they probably don't know you're back yet. Mina has been seriously stress eating ever since you left," he said, turning to his brother.

            "Hn. I'll go over soon," Sasuke replied, grimacing as he looked over at Naruto and Hinata.

            Naruto and Hinata had finally stopped kissing and were looking at each other longingly. He stroked the back of her head and stared into her pale eyes.

            "I'm so sorry, Hinata. I've missed you every day since we've been apart," Naruto said softly.

            "Yeah, so much he's been moaning about you in his sleep," Sasuke remarked off-handedly.

            Sakura punched him in the arm as the two lovebirds turned to look at them.

            "Ow!" he complained.

            "Sasuke-kun," Hinata said, getting off of Naruto.

            She launched herself at Sasuke now with new tears in her eyes, and wrapped her arms around his torso.

            "Thank you," she said. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

            Sasuke blushed in embarrassment and fidgeted awkwardly.

            "It's fine..." Sasuke muttered. "It was my fault in the first place..."

            "No, really, Sasuke-kun. Thank you," Hinata said, batting her wet lashes at him.

            A strange feeling spread in her chest as Sakura watched and she put her hand over her heart. Weird. Did she have to hug him that long? Chill, Sakura, Hinata was Naruto's girl. Sasuke and Hinata had probably known each other a super long time. A hand was placed on her shoulder, and she turned to see Itachi smiling gently at her. Why did it seem like he knew everything?

            "Why don't we get you something to drink? You must have had a long journey," he said kindly.

            "Okay, thank you," she said.

            "Oh, and normally Hinata would come and say hi to you, but she's a little emotional at the moment. She's barely slept the whole time those two have been missing. She wasn't only worried about Naruto, Sasuke's been friends with her since they were little. Our families have always been close, and she's felt terrible thinking that she might have sent him on a death mission. They're just very good friends."

            He seemed to be trying to reassure her in some way, and Sakura smiled at him gratefully.

            "You should get to know her later; I think you two would be great friends," he said.

            "Yeah, she looks sweet," Sakura said truthfully, getting a little excited at the idea of having a friend in this place.

            Itachi started walking, and Sakura followed after glancing back at Sasuke to see him still preoccupied with Hinata and a jealous Naruto. As they walked through the village, Sakura kept turning her head to look at anything and everyone. Itachi seemed amused, and even stopped to let her look at the multitude of stores they had. They eventually arrived in front of a large compound with red and white fan symbols painted on two blue drapes hanging from the top of the door. It was a beautiful building with blue everywhere and the same fan symbols hanging on each wall. It even had a large yard visible from the front with a pond out back.

            "Wow," Sakura whispered, in awe of the house. "This is where you live?"

            "Yup. This is the Uchiha house. My dad is the head of the clan, so we get to live here."

            "Wow. That's awesome. Clan, huh? This is way different than where I grew up..." Sakura said, looking around.

            "And where did you grow up?" Itachi asked.

            "Outside the forest," she responded.

            "Really?" Itachi said, looking surprised. "But you're so..."

            He looked her up and down. Sakura laughed.

            "Not like a Normy?"

            She had learned all about the difference between Normies and Supernaturals, although both were considered human.

            "Yes," Itachi laughed. "In a good way!"

            "Well, you're right because I've discovered that I'm actually from here," Sakura said.

            "Oh?"

            "It's a long story," Sakura waved him off.

            "Itachi!" a voice sounded.

            They both turned away from the house to see a short girl with black curls bouncing around her head running up to them. She stopped in front of them panting, with an identical green vest on, and a headband tied on top of her headd, holding back some of her curls. She looked up at the both of them with honey golden eyes, and grabbed Itachi's hands.

            "Is he back? Are they really back?" she asked eagerly.

            "Yes. Safe and sound," Itachi answered, smiling at her like she was his whole world.

            "Oh, good! Thank God! I need to go see them then, and Hinata. The poor girl hasn't slept in a week!" the girl said. "Oh! I should make dinner, and we'll have them all over! Wait, I should go get changed first, shouldn't I?"

            "Mina? Mina, honey, calm down," Itachi said, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Just calm down. Everyone is safe, okay?"

            "Okay," she said, staring up at him. "Okay."

            She leaned up and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Sakura had seen more kissing than she had bargained for coming here. Mina's sleeves lifted up a bit, and dark scars around her wrists became visible. It looked as if something had been chafing against them for years.

            They separated, and Mina just then seemed to take notice of her and blushed a million shades of red.

            "Itachi! How could you not tell me someone was here!" she whined, burying her face in his chest.

           "Well, since you have eyes, I thought you knew," he chuckled.

            "Hello," she greeted shyly, peeking one eye out from Itachi's chest.

            Aw. Cute!

            "Hi. I'm Sakura, nice to meet you," Sakura said, sticking her hand out.

            "Mina, nice to meet you too," she said, shaking her hand.

            "She's Sasuke's friend," Itachi explained.

            "Sasuke made a friend?" Mina gasped. "This is cause for celebration!"

            Sakura laughed at her reaction. Was Sasuke-kun that hard to get close to? Well, now that she thought about it, he had been pretty cold when they had first met, but he was a bit gentler now, especially after the whole feeding thing.

            "Yes..." she trailed off, confused.

            Were they just friends? They had been on the verge of doing something more before. Twice.

            "Sakura's a supernatural who's been living with Normies her whole life," Itachi said.

            "Really?" Mina asked, her whole demeanor suddenly changing.

            She crossed her arms, and her eyes became distant. Itachi seemed to have realized that he made a mistake, and hastened to change the subject.

            "She's going to be staying with us," he said quickly.

            "Oh? That's wonderful!" She said, becoming cheery again. "That's wonderful! Another girl in the house! Finally!"

            "What about my mom?" Itachi chuckled.

            "You know I love Mikoto," Mina said. "But it's nice to have someone my age, or at least around my age around."

            "I know, I know, I'm just teasing you," he said, ruffling her hair.

            "I am staying with you guys?" Sakura asked, unaware of this.

            "Well, you're a friend of Sasuke's, so yes. And anyway, where else would you stay?"

            He did make a good point, but still, her and Sasuke living together? Now that was something she'd never thought about. It made her cheeks go red.

            "Come on, let's get you to meet all the Uchihas!" Mina chirped happily, lacing her arm through Sakura's and dragging her inside.

            "Mikoto-san! I have someone for you to meet! Oh, and Sasuke and Naruto have returned!"

            A raven-haired woman immediately dashed into the foyer, panting. She was a beauty with pale skin, raven hair, and onyx eyes. She was basically a female version of Sasuke, so much so that it was kind of disturbing took at her.

            "My baby's back! He's alright?" she asked.

            "Yes, he's fine. Granted I haven't seen him yet, but Itachi has," Mina replied happily.

            The woman, Mikoto, put a hand over her heart and sighed in relief.

           "Thank God. I know that boy's capable, but he is a little too reckless sometimes. Leaving the house without any blood? Now that was foolhardy," she said.

            "Oh, well no worries, I was able to take care of that," Sakura said before she could stop herself.

            Mina and Mikoto's eyes swiveled to her, and heat mounted to her cheeks.

            "Oh. I see. And who might you be?" Mikoto asked, eyes suddenly sparkling.

            "Uh... I'm Sakura," she said hesitantly.

            "She's going to be staying with us," Mina piped up.

             "Well aren't you adorable!" Mikoto exclaimed. "Now I have two adorable girls!"

            She hugged both of them tight, taking Sakura by surprise. She looked over to see Mina smiling softly as she hugged her back, and decided to just do the same. This motherly hug reminded her so much of Shizune, it hurt. She blinked her tears back as she released them and beamed at Sakura.

           "Come on in, come on in. Let's find you a room, there are tons in this giant house," Mikoto said, gesturing around her.

            "I can attest to that," Mina said, raising her hand.

            They spent the next half hour finding Sakura a room, and setting it up for her personal use; even going as far as to find her some clothes from Mina's closet that would fit her, which was hard considering they didn't have the same cleavage size whatsoever. Sakura had just gone to the kitchen to help prepare dinner when Sasuke walked in, looking worried, with Itachi right behind him. When he caught sight of her, he seemed to relax as Itachi smirked behind his back. Mikoto ran to greet him, and started talking about how proud she was of him. He glanced to Sakura as Mikoto hugged him.

            "Hi," she greeted.

            "Hn," was all he replied, and marched upstairs.

            Sakura pouted down at the food she was making. He could act a little nicer when seeing her. Mikoto giggled from beside her, and Itachi raised his eyebrows in amusement. Sakura flushed, and turned away. Just then a scream was heard, and Sasuke came down with a giggling Mina attached to his neck. He had changed, and no longer had his cloak on; now he just wore a simple black, long sleeve shirt, with a wide collar and the same fan symbol on his back. Mina was now wearing a flowing off-the-shoulder red shirt, black shorts, and a red ribbon with a white bird on it on her head.

            "Would you get off of me?" Sasuke groaned.

            "But you're finally back! I was worried, you know! What if something had happened to my precious Sasuke-kins!" she laughed, pinching his cheeks.

            "Mina, don't call me that! You know I don't like that!" He complained.

           "I know. That's why I call you that," she grinned.

            Sasuke rolled his eyes, but said no more, letting her hang off his neck happily. Sakura giggled to herself, and his gaze flicked to her, looking her up and down. She had changed into one of Mina's old dresses. It was red, and tight around the torso before flowing out and ending just above her knees. She squirmed self-consciously. Sasuke merely turned his head away, however, and went to sit down in the large living room with Mina by his side. Sakura turned her away from him, and began furiously dicing away at the slab of meat in front of her, while Mikoto and Itachi shared a look behind her back.

            By the time they had finished making dinner, it seemed that the last member of the family had arrived. The door slid open, and all heads swiveled to see a man with a square jawline walk in, looking exhausted. He had brown hair and deep-set eyes to go with his strong jaw. He was wearing the same green vest as Itachi and Mina had had on earlier, except that he had a badge pinned on his chest with the same fan symbol painted onto the metal.

            "Welcome home, Fugaku! Look who's back!" Mikoto said, going to hug her husband.

            Her husband, Fugaku looked around before spotting Sasuke, and a big smile crossed his face.

            "My boy made it back! I knew you could do it!" he laughed happily, clapping Sasuke on the back as he stood up.

            "Thanks, Tou-san," Sasuke said, seeming happy.

            "Did you bring Naruto back with ya?" he asked.

            "Yes, and he's just fine," Sasuke responded proudly, clearly forgetting that that was thanks to her.

            Mikoto cleared her throat, and Fugaku turned to look at her as she put her hands on Sakura's shoulders.

            "This is Sakura, Fugaku. She's a friend of Sasuke's, and she'll be staying with us from now on," she declared happily.

            "H-Hi," Sakura waved, feeling a little intimidated by the large man.

            Fugaku regarded her sternly, and everyone waited with bated breath, as Mikoto smiling serenely.

            "Well welcome, I guess, since everyone seems to have taken a liking to you already," Fugaku smirked.

            Sakura sighed in relief, as did the rest of the family.

            "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving," Itachi said, clapping his hands together. 

3797 words

So, I hope you liked it. Due to popular demand, Itachi was the first to meet them! Yay! My husband! Anywho, just want to say that I won't get around to writing a chapter of Dragon Boy and Princess because honestly I'm exhausted and I'm traveling tomorrow so I can't, but I will try to have it done as soon as possible. Just don't expect it by the week, and if by some miracle I manage it, then happy birthday to all of you. As you can see, I'm clearly delirious so good night. Vote, comment, and share. Ja ne.