Summary: Sasuke is minding his own business, as usual, when he finds a weird woman in the woods outside Orochimaru's most recent base.

Age: Sasuke is 15, 16 at the most. Sakura is 32.

Category: SasuSaku, mentions of SasuSakuSara.

Note: For whatever reason, my other one shot got deleted so we're trying this again! I'm highkey really upset about how the oneshot just disappeared like that. Like maybe I did something weird on accident when I was editing this book or something...? But either way it's gone and I can barely remember how the story goes, but I remember that I really enjoyed that oneshot... :((( So we're trying this again. Hopefully it will turn out like the last one (I'm reconstructing this from memory, so bear with me), and I'm hoping there are at least some improvements. The mood for this song is Out West by Travis Scott, mostly because the stupid song is freaking addicting.

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Sasuke's brows furrowed as the sound of a twig snapping five feet away from him disrupted his focus. The teenager opened his eyes, and found a squirrel prancing around innocently on the ground floor below him.  He resisted the urge to pick up a throwing knife and end the mammal's useless existence. Sasuke closed his eyes, taking a calming breath. That had clearly been his attitude talking- he disliked killing unprovoked. It took physical effort for the boy to curb the intense rage that built up inside him sometimes, and meditation was one of the best ways to fix that. After all, he had deserted his home to train with a sannin that only wanted to use him for his body and trained him sometimes.

Sasuke's eyes shut tightly, and he made sure to regulate his breathing. He shoved all thoughts out of his mind, and focused on his surroundings. The cool solidity of the large rock he was sitting on, the wind in the trees that teased his hair, the slight scent of rain coming from the East. Sasuke focused on everything but how angry he was deep down.

Orochimaru didn't devote all of his time to training Sasuke, much to the Uchiha's chagrin. The Snake Sannin did engage in other horrid pursuits. So when Sasuke's mentor quit training early, there was nothing Sasuke could do about it. He had gone over all of his personal training three times already, and had practiced his hardest techniques. He'd walked into Orochimaru's little throne room and demanded that the Sannin train him, but Orochimaru only told him that he would be available tomorrow, and to go practice on his own.

It wasn't that Sasuke liked Orochimaru in any way, shape, or form. In fact, he hated the snake. He was a relentless monster with no regard for anyone but himself, and his own problems. He was pathetic, in Sasuke's eyes. He was pathetic, but reasonably powerful. So Sasuke was here to train.

Sasuke focused himself once again, irritated at how hard it was to keep himself together. He had a tight reign over his emotions, usually, but today was the anniversary of his clan's death, so he was also considerably impatient. He toned his own thoughts out, keeping his attention on his surroundings.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Snap.

Sasuke's eyes opened quickly, his hand dropping to his sword. That sound wasn't made by a small animal. His ebony eyes searched the location for the cause of the disturbance, and he almost jumped when someone leapt out of the shadows of the forest. Sasuke stood up on his rock, and drew his sword, pointing it down at said someone before his eyes finally noticed the person's appearance.

It was a girl, Sasuke realized. No, a woman. She had the pinkest hair Sasuke had seen in a long time, and was staring up at him with crossed arms and a wide smile, her emerald eyes shining like she'd discovered a hilarious joke. Sasuke couldn't shake the fact that this woman looked uncannily like... "Sakura?" He wondered aloud, eyes narrowing.

"Not quite." The woman hummed, her smile widening into something more mischievous, more like a smirk. She cocked her hip, staring up at him. She was around 5'5, and much shorter than Sasuke when he was standing on his rock. Sasuke's sword tip pushed up against the bottom of her jaw, coercing her into tipping her head up so Sasuke could get a better look at her, while simultaneously making her aware of the threat for her life.

Even the woman's facial expressions and aura were familiar to him. But this woman was older than his teammate would be right now- much older. This woman had a sharp face with a prominent jawline, and sharp cheekbones. She had a purple diamond on her forehead, which oddly enough looked considerably smaller. Her eyes looked like they were titanium, and the chances of her crying were probably less than zero. She was wearing a red outfit that displayed her well toned midriff, and wore white pants along with some heels. Her biceps were out on full display. She was clearly strong for a woman, and her chakra was the largest and probably the most stifling he'd seen since Naruto's. The sheer amount of it that he could sense hidden away in that tiny body was incredible. 

She was pretty, but way out of Sasuke's age range, even if he was into that kind of stuff. It was just unsettling how much she looked like Sakura. Sasuke wondered briefly if they were related somehow- an aunt or a sister that Sakura had never mentioned, maybe? But the odds of that were astronomically low, considering how much Sakura talked.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked once he dropped his sword from her chin. This woman was either stupid, or she had a death wish. They were in the middle of the Sound Village. This was very clearly Orochimaru's turf, and everyone around knew that. There wasn't a single person in this whole nation that wasn't afraid of the Snake Sannin- and not one that would willingly wander around these parts of the woods. She wasn't a local, obviously.

"I appear to be lost." The woman said, before she grinned a Cheshire smile, looking around. "I had no idea I'd end up here." Then she backed away from the sword slowly. Sasuke didn't let her get far- his arm outstretched and the sword followed. The pressure of his blade into her jaw made the steel pierce the skin, a few beads of blood running down her chin and disappearing into the neckline of the shirt she was wearing.

"You need to leave this place." Sasuke told her, not really sure why he was letting her off with a warning- it probably wouldn't take much effort to haul her in to Kabuto for questioning, but there was something fundamentally wrong about this girl being here, and Sasuke just wanted her gone.

The girl hummed, her smile wiped from her face in an instant. She looked to be seriously considering his command. "Orochimaru's around here, too, huh? I bet I could beat him." She smirked, looking around her surroundings. Sasuke felt her chakra flare a little, and jumped forward to physically force her to stifle it, but before he could, she disappeared.

Sasuke was left staring into space, where a pink haired woman used to be standing, all of his hairs sticking up. She had disappeared like she hadn't been there in the first place- like all of this had been in his head. And maybe it was- after all, the pink haired girl that couldn't be more than 5'5 had just said she could probably take Orochimaru. Sasuke shook his head, standing up. He looked at his sword, moving to clean the blood off, but there was none on his chokuto. Sasuke's eyes narrowed at that.

Sasuke felt like he'd been tricked, and he hated feeling like he had been tricked. So Sasuke hunted through the forest for the woman- even going so far as to summon two Shadow Clones to help him. He didn't leave a single stone unturned, but there was no sign of the pink haired woman.

If he hadn't imagined her, and the woman in the red shirt was still wandering around all alone... Sasuke growled, grabbing his sword and slicing all the way through a tree with it. The tree slowly fell to the ground. If she was still out there, she was in danger of Orochimaru finding her, or worse, the Akatsuki. If Itachi got ahold of her... well, words couldn't express how upset Sasuke would be about that. He didn't know why, per se, but he did know like it was a gut feeling that the woman's death at Itachi's hands would only make him even more angry.

And the idea of Orochimaru finding her, and experimenting her, and draining her of everything that made her the way she is and leaving her behind as a broken shell the way he did with his other experiments made him sick. He had no idea why he was being so affected by the woman's disappearance, but it was only serving to make him more angry.

He found no traces of the woman's existence. Her blood had vanished from his sword. Not a single pink hair on the floor, or a snapped twig that Sasuke had thought he heard.

Was he going insane?

She had been there- she had looked so real, so alive... but Sasuke was an accomplished tracker, and couldn't find a single piece of evidence that said she had ever been there. Sasuke looked up, and found that the sun had already set, and he was looking in a darkening forest. His irritation only flared, because he'd wasted a whole day looking for a pink haired girl that didn't exist.

He glared at the tree that he had felled earlier, before slowly making his way back into Orochimaru's underground compound. He slipped through the hallways, trying to attract the least amount of attention as possible, and walked to his room.

His room was built on a hillside, so he had a window. He was relieved for that small mercy- being underground and away from the sky for months on end was unnerving even for him. He liked being able to look at the stars before he fell asleep. Sasuke changed into a t-shirt, but kept his sweatpants on. He discarded the open long sleeved shirt, the gray jacket and the purple belt that he always tied around his waist, and looked at his bed.

Sleeping didn't come easy for him on a good day. Today was not a good day.

He turned away from his bed for an instant, turning back to his closet, and when he turned back around, he almost jumped to see the same woman sitting on his bed, bouncing on it slightly as if testing it.

"This is comfortable. Orochimaru treating you well?" The pink haired woman looked up at him, relaxing without a care in the world.

Sasuke didn't waste a second- he flash stepped over to his sword, and pinned the woman to the wall with his sword beneath her chin, ready to draw the blade across her neck at the slightest movement. His sword nicked her neck, drawing  a little blood. The woman looked down at the sword with those stupid, laughing eyes, and looked back at him. "You have two seconds to tell me who you are, and what the fuck you're doing here before I cut you."

"So rude." The woman clicked her tongue twice, before her elbow caught him in the ribs, her arm sending him back. The sword he was still holding had been kicked by her, so that it went flying past Sasuke, and straight into the wall. It buried itself in there until the edge of the hilt was barely visible. Sasuke rolled off his bed, walking to his sword, and found that there was no way for him to pull the sword out without breaking the wall around it, and he didn't fancy waking Orochimaru or Kabuto up to explain the loud noises.

Sasuke looked at her, and found that she had dropped from her position against the wall, sitting nonchalantly on his pillow, now. She crossed her arms, and sat criss-cross like a child, watching and waiting for him to get the sword out. That only made Sasuke's irritation rise. "What will you cut me with now?" She asked knowingly, probably seeing straight through him.

"My bare hands." Sasuke retorted, gathering chakra and amassing a chidori. The jutsu was so famliar by now, that he could do many more than his old limit of two per day. The girl's eyes lit up at the sight of the jutsu.

"Ooh, the legendary Chidori. Are you going to kill me with it?"

Sasuke resisted the urge to snarl at her lack of fear. "I won't if you start answering my questions." He told her, getting ready to charge at her.

"I seriously doubt that would kill me, but feel free to try." The woman said, a massive smile still on her face. "Kakashi-sensei's little jutsu is quite powerful, but I have a trump card."

Sasuke froze at that, allowing the Chidori to dissipate. This woman had just mentioned Kakashi, and she'd used the term 'sensei.' Kakashi had never taught a single team aside from Sasuke's old genin team, and Sasuke highly doubted that his old teacher had started it up again. This woman looked exactly like Sakura, and had referred to Kakashi as sensei, but that didn't mean that she wasn't just an impostor. After all, Sakura was nowhere near that old right now. Sasuke had just seen her. Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek as he watched the woman.

She had leaned forward in thinly veiled interest. "So you're not going to kill me, then?" She asked, beaming like she had just been given a great gift.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, mind working desperately to find out what he was missing here. He had an idea of what was going on, but he had no way to know for sure. So Sasuke did a test. "People who break the rules are scum, but people who leave their comrades behind...?"

"Are worse than scum." The woman replied without giving a single thought to what she was saying. She looked startled seconds later. "Wait- was that a test?"

Sasuke didn't respond to that, firing his own question off in return. "Are you Sakura Haruno?"

"Nope." The Sakura look alike replied, popping the last two letters of the word dramatically. Her pearly grin never left her face- it only grew wider at Sasuke's assumption.

"You are Sakura, though." Sasuke's brows furrowed. "You look exactly like her, and you knew our old sensei's little catchphrase." The moonlight was streaming in from the window, and wind sent chills down his spine. She had entered through the window, he noticed.

"I am Sakura." The woman agreed, smiling like she knew something Sasuke didn't. "But not the one you know."

"Elaborate." Sasuke was getting really tired of these games. His eyes narrowed dangerously, and 'Sakura' could see it.

"You don't think I look different?" Sakura asked, gesturing to her attire and body in general. "I'm older than I should be. I'm not from here."

"Meaning?"

"I'm clearly from the future- honestly, what kind of genius are you?"

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Sasuke asked aloud, blinking multiple times. He disrupted his chakra, but the genjutsu didn't fade. He wasn't sleeping, either. This person was not an impostor under a henge. If he was going insane and imaging this woman, she was clearly something his brain had thought out carefully. Masterfully and in stunning detail.

"It's not a joke- I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing here myself, but it's always nice to see you, Sasuke-kun. I forgot how cute you used to be." Sakura threw her head back and laughed, and Sasuke was left staring in awe. He was still suspicious, but if this woman really was his pink haired teammate... she'd gone through a massive change. "Of course, you're far more than cute in my time." Sakura barely managed to get out, before dissolving into fits of laughter.

"Will you shut up?" Sasuke asked in irritation, crossing his arms and glaring down at her. This naive and obnoxious part of her was definitely reminiscent of Sakura. "You're going to wake up the others."

"Sorry, sorry." The woman waved her hand dismissively. "I'll keep it down. I'm just excited. And a little concerned- I'm not really supposed to be here, and I'm not sure how I'm going to get home."

"You're stuck here?" Sasuke asked, uncrossing his arms and staring at Sakura.

"Until my husband comes and gets me, I think." Sakura smiled, and Sasuke noticed that her pupils widened considerably just at the thought of her husband.

Sasuke was a little startled by that fact. "You have a husband?"

"Well, don't look so surprised," Sakura said indignantly, brows furrowing, before she collapsed into giggles.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. It wasn't that he was surprised that she had a husband. She was beautiful, and all around a good person. She was very much wife material. It was more like... he was just a little bummed that she hadn't waited for him, like he always assumed she would. Just a little bit bummed, though. It wasn't like he expected her to. He never really expected much from her. It was just oddly... unsettling. She had seemed so genuine when they talked last. If this even was Sakura, he reminded himself. After all, there was a good chance that this woman was an impostor.

"Anyway, how is life here?" Sakura asked, leaning on Sasuke's bed and staring up at him with those feline emerald eyes. It was startling how much those eyes reminded him of a cat. "I don't think I asked you the last time I saw you."

Sasuke didn't know whether he wanted to respond to that or not. Truthfully, life here wasn't great. It certainly was worse than his life in Konoha, no matter what way he spinned it. But endgame was that he was getting much, much stronger than he used to be. "It's manageable." Sasuke said curtly, without giving it much thought. "Why are you still here?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked curiously, leaning her head against his pillow and propping her head up.

"Shouldn't you be trying to contact your... husband?" Sasuke asked, eyes narrowing at her.

"Well, I can't really contact him considering that we are literal dimensions away from each other." Sakura pointed out, shaking her head as she thought about it. "The best solution is to wait for him to come get me."

"How do you know he'll come for you?" Sasuke asked, crossing his arms again. He cocked his hip and leaned back against the wall close to the sword that was buried into the wall.

"Oh, he will." Sakura said with absolute certainty. She sat up, and began to sit criss cross again, this time leaning her elbow on her knee. "Until then, I'm stuck here. But if you want me to leave, I guess I could go wandering around outside for a while, until my husband comes."

Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek, everything within him protesting that, but not wanting to make it seem super obvious that he wanted her to stay. Orochimaru or the Akatsuki could find that girl easily- her chakra was like a beacon. "You can leave if you want- just don't get caught. If you stay here, you should at least let me sleep soon. I don't want to be bothered by you until your husband gets off his ass." As if Sasuke would be getting any sleep in a stranger's presence. That excuse alone was laughable, and from the amused look on this older Sakura's face, she could tell.

"Ah yes, I wouldn't want to be an annoyance to you." Sakura stood up from his bed, walking to the side of his room and sitting on the floor with her back against the wall. Sasuke winced.

This was almost definitely Sakura, somehow. Bringing up that... it had to be her. This was apparently her older self. Now Sasuke felt like he was being rude for indirectly making her chose to sit on the floor. He almost felt a little guilty.

He didn't really know why he cared- he knew for a fact that he wouldn't care even a little bit if it was her teenage or Genin self standing before him- but something about this older Sakura demanded respect, and Sasuke felt compelled to give it to her. Maybe it was the fact that this woman was emanating strength that was greater than his own at the moment, for some reason. Maybe it was because Sasuke had been raised in the Uchiha household, where his mother had taught him to treat elders that deserved it with respect. Especially women. Mikoto had drilled it into him and Itachi to never underestimate a powerful woman. Or any woman in general. Sasuke hadn't always been able to keep to that principle, but he found himself pulling it out of the drawer for this woman.

Sakura yawned, stretching her arms out. "Your room is so empty, Sasuke-kun..." her green eyes wandered the sparse belongings he had. "Weapons... shoes... a dresser..." she looked up the walls. The room was so spartan- Sasuke was accustomed to not having permanent belongings, because those might need to be shed at any minute. "You should be living a normal teenage life. You should have friends. Posters. Hobbies." Sakura sighed wistfully. "But I understand that you have a higher calling. It's very noble of you to take on the burden of avenging your clan."

Sasuke didn't really know what to say to that. "You never understood that before..." he murmured, taking a seat on the floor across from her. There was about a five foot distance between them, but Sasuke could see the affection in her eyes clearly.

"I know. That was ignorant of me, and on behalf of my past selves, I do apologize." Sakura bowed her head. "But you have to remember to never lose yourself. The minute you lose yourself... the good, pureness in you... the minute you become a monster... that is the minute where you forfeit everything you could have." She told him quietly, and Sasuke found himself listening to her words. "And here, with Orochimaru, you have more chances..." she didn't finish that sentence. "I understand your motive, but I still do not approve of the method you are using to get your brother." Sakura's voice lowered, and her voice cracked, and Sasuke found himself missing that Cheshire grin a little bit.

"I don't need your permission to do anything." Sasuke reminded her, not quite as harshly as it could've been.

"I know." Sakura exhaled, running a hand through her hair. "I know that. Just... please, for old time's sake, please keep in mind that becoming a murderer is not a good path to walk."

Sasuke had made his peace with the fact that killing his brother would make him a murderer, so he didn't say anything about that. Anything he would have to say would only cause a fight between them. And that wasn't quite what Sasuke had in mind. "How old are you now?" He asked instead, spreading his legs out and crossing them on the floor, leaning back on his arms. He looked at her with his head tilted forward in mild interest.

"Ah," Sakura's eyes regained their small sparkle. "I'm 32 years old now." She told him, laughing a little. "I'm old now."

"You're way older than me." Sasuke huffed, shaking his head. "What's the future like?" He didn't know what was prompting him to ask so many questions. 

Sakura sighed, looking pensive. "Ah... well, it's much different from things now. For starters, there are multiple technological innovations that our generation pioneered, but I doubt you care about that very much." She smiled at him, and Sasuke was truly astounded at how well Sakura knew him. "Naruto says it was just fate that our generation happened to be the genius one- after all, we were graced with Konoha's Number One Unpredictable Knucklehead Ninja's presence."

Sasuke snorted. "That idiot made it that far into the future?" He asked, almost wanting to laugh at the idea of the blonde surviving to adulthood.

Sakura beamed, and she nodded proudly. Sasuke couldn't help but notice Sakura's affectionate smile when it came to their blonde teammate. Is he the famous husband I'm hearing so much about? Sasuke thought to himself, unsure why the idea of Sakura marrying Naruto made him feel so uncomfortable. "Yep, he made it. He's just as much of a handful as he used to be, but I think he's definitely gotten a little bit more mature. I'm just lucky he's Hinata's problem." She laughed, swiping a hand into the air dismissively.

Sasuke resisted the urge to heave a relieved sigh, before he registered what he'd just heard. "Naruto married Hinata? As in Hinata Hyuga- the heiress?" He asked incredulously. He'd known that the Hyuga girl had liked Naruto, but he hadn't really cared too much to pay attention to her progress in that area. It never seemed like Naruto really noticed her, though, based on his memories. Not only that, but even if Naruto did notice and return her feelings, would her clan even let the two of them be together? Sasuke's clan did business with the Hyuga clan occasionally, and Sasuke remembered that they were especially uptight. They were even controlling enough to put seal brands on the branch member's foreheads, which gave the main family the ability to control basically all of them. 

If Naruto managed to marry into the clan, it would be a miracle- but for Hiashi to give up his firstborn daughter, the heiress, to Naruto? Almost impossible. Naruto would have to either pull off something absolutely amazing, do something equally dramatic like convince Hinata to run away with him. Sasuke wouldn't put it past him.

"Oh, the Hyuga clan mellowed out a lot." Sakura told him, eyes open wide to emphasize that she thought they had definitely needed it. "But yeah, Naruto married Hinata. They're really cute together."

Sasuke hummed. "What do you do?" He asked, nodding at Sakura in mild interest. He uncrossed his ankles, because the hard floor was beginning to hurt the bottom ankle, and put the bottom ankle on top, and the top on bottom. 

"Oh, me?" Sakura asked, bringing her legs up to her chest and playing with the bottom of her white pants. "Well, I'm the student of Tsunade, so... I'm the second Slug Sannin. I'm also the Head medic of Konoha's hospitals. I'm sometimes sent out on diplomatic trips to other countries to help with their own medical systems. I also created and work at the children's mental centers that we've been needing... and I spearheaded the movement to start other children's mental centers in other villages." She told Sasuke, thinking hard about her achievements, probably sifting through which ones to share with Sasuke, and which ones to keep to herself.

Sasuke's eyes widened a little. Sakura was important. Of course she was. Even as a kid, she was a genius with a good memory. "Children's mental center?" He repeated.

"Yeah." Sakura murmured, giving Sasuke the softest smile. "Because no one should have to go through what you and Naruto went through as kids." She told him. Sasuke was astounded that she genuinely seemed to care about Sasuke's experiences now. He didn't know what to say to the fact that she created a children's care center with him in mind. He was strangely honored, but couldn't really say so. Luckily, Sakura had moved on before he really had the chance to voice his opinion. "I also take care of my daughter." She said, as though she had just remembered that part of her life.

Sasuke startled. "You have a daughter?" He tried to envision Sakura's daughter, but the only thing he could come up with was a girl that looked identical to genin Sakura- pink hair and green eyes, and a wide smile with a completely genuine personality.

"Oh yes. She is my pride and joy." Sakura's face warmed. Sasuke's lips twitched into an almost smile when he saw Sakura begin to think about her daughter, and she absolutely just lit up. Sakura clearly loved her kid more than anything. "She's just... amazing." Sakura gushed. "She's twelve years old- so she's a genin now. She would probably be a chunin if her father hadn't..." Sakura sucked on her bottom lip, before shaking her head. "Well, that's a story for another time."

Sasuke's brows furrowed. Apparently his teammate's husband had somehow taken an opportunity away from Sakura's daughter, and Sasuke didn't really know why he felt oddly pissed at that. But aside from that, Sasuke was also pretty weirded out by the fact that Sakura's kid was closer to Sasuke's age than Sakura herself. A two and a half year difference, at most. It was really strange to think about. He'd known Sakura since they were kids. "Wow, you really are old." He continued the conversation, smirking a little at Sakura's indignant face.

Sakura tried to keep the irritated face up, but she just threw her head back and laughed, her short pink hair flying back and gracing her slender neck. "Yeah, I am." She grinned. "But that doesn't mean I'm not completely capable of kicking your ass if you mouth off!" She warned, barely able to get that out through her laughter. She had to cover her mouth with her hands when she saw Sasuke's glare at that insinuation. She just shook her head, when she had recovered herself. "I was just kiddingggg," she giggled. "You're a good kid. I am finding it a little weird that you haven't asked about yourself once, though."

Sasuke frowned. "It's not that I don't want to know... it's just..." he didn't know how to finish that thought. He hated surprises, and he had no idea what was coming right now. Did he kill Itachi? Did he die? Did he ever restore his clan? If so, with who? Sakura was married, so all bets were off. Oddly enough, his pink haired teammate had been the only person he had ever considered to be a potential matriarch when he was in the village, and though he tried to suppress it, even now, he had never really corrected that assumption. He hadn't found anyone else he had ever even considered. 

"Well, would you want me to tell you?" Sakura asked, tilting her head to the side. Sakura was still oddly pretty for a thirty-two year old woman, Sasuke thought, before he shoved that thought away again. 

Sasuke swallowed, unsure of what she would say, but before he could regret it, he dipped his head in assent. 

"You're thirty-two, like me." Sakura told him, grinning mischievously. "You wear a lot of black. You hair has grown longer- so long that it's about as long as mine. It doesn't spike up anymore." Sasuke sighed in relief- good to know that goes away. He thought, before he stared at Sakura intently. Sakura knew that this wasn't the type of information he was looking for, but she seemed to be starting him off with the basic stuff. "You're one of the strongest ninja alive today You're kinda emotionless, but that hasn't changed much." Sakura said, and Sasuke's eyes widened. He had expected himself to get very strong, but he was still a little surprised. "You're out of the village a lot, but you always come home." Sakura emphasized the last part, staring at Sasuke intently. Sasuke didn't really know how he felt about the fact that he was apparently going to go back to Konoha. "You... um..." Sakura's eyes misted a little, and Sasuke recognized that as a sign that she was close to tears. "Um... you did kill Itachi..." Her voice broke at the end, so she took a few seconds to collect herself. Sasuke let out a massive grin. Itachi was gone- he wasn't super sure why Sakura didn't seem happy about it, but he shoved that out of his mind. She continued. "You're married, and you have one daughter."

Sasuke's eyebrows raised. How convenient, that he also had a daughter. He gave Sakura a smirk. "Are our daughters friends?" He asked teasingly.

Sakura smirked back at him, crossing her arms over her chest. She seemed to hesitate for a little bit, before she tapped her fingers on her arms. "Our daughters are the same person. Sarada Uchiha." She said, looking closely at his face for any reaction. 

Sasuke's face went utterly blank- his brain was functioning solely on emergency services. Everything was on fire in his head, and he was kind of freaking out. "We're married?" He asked calmly, resisting the urge to let out a triumphant smirk. That would probably freak Sakura out.

"Yep. I told you I wasn't Sakura Haruno because I'm not- my name is Sakura Uchiha." Sakura said, turning around to finally show him her back. Sasuke had noticed that Sakura had never once turned around in his presence, but he had just assumed that it was because she was a brilliant ninja that knew that turning their back on the enemy was suicide. Sasuke could now easily see the Uchiha crest displayed on her back, and Sasuke's throat closed up a little. It had been years since he'd seen the Uchiha crest on anyone's back but himself. Against his will, Sasuke felt a lump form in his throat. "We're married."

Sasuke exhaled, before he took in another deep breath. "Well then..." he whispered. Of course Sakura had waited for him. Why had he doubted her determination? Sasuke resisted the smirk even more, now, but he knew for sure that Sakura could see him stubbornly trying not to smile. She beamed. 

"Is it weird to meet your future wife?" Sakura asked curiously, still beaming at him. "I think it's funny, meeting my younger husband." She said, reaching across the distance and poking him in the shoulder playfully. Sasuke's defenses were down- he trusted Sakura, so his fast reflexes never even registered that poke as a threat. 

"Well..." Sasuke really was unsure how to respond. "It's cool, I guess." He said, staring at Sakura in a much different light now. He was going to have a family in the future- Itachi was dead. He had a daughter, who was apparently amazing. He'd thought he'd have a son, but honestly... the more he thought about it... he kind of liked the idea of a girl more. "Sarada Uchiha, huh?"

Sakura beamed. "She's kind of a genius. She already has the Sharingan, and has had it for a while. She's getting good at using it. She's really smart, and she's already learned plenty of Lightning and Fire style techniques. I know those are your areas of expertise."

Sasuke smirked, pleased with what he'd just heard. She was obviously Uchiha standards. "What does she look like?" Sasuke asked, only now realizing that his vision of the pink haired and green eyed girl probably didn't hold up- his family's genes were very dominant.

"Like you, of course. Almost exactly like you. She has my face shape and eye shape, though so far that's all she got from me." Sakura said, laughing a little as she extended her legs and stretched her arms over her head. "She's got glasses, though, because she got really sick as a child and her sight was affected by it." Sakura winced. "That was scary."

Sasuke shook his head. "That's not a problem. Uchiha tend to have sharper eyesight with the Sharingan anyway." 

Sakura nodded. "I wouldn't know how it feels, but Sarada's pretty good at using the Sharingan. She's getting a lesson or two from you on how to maintain it, and the other forms and such, but other than that, she seems to be getting the hang of it quickly."

"How many tomoe does she have?" Sasuke asked in interest.

"Three." 

"Well, she's progressing quickly." Sasuke said, a hint of pride coming out in his voice. "Did she inherit any of your techniques?" Sasuke asked. He hadn't seen Sakura fight, but he'd heard rumors of his teammate taking down an Akatsuki member named Akasuna no Sasori. Orochimaru was extremely happy that day.

"Well... needless to say, our daughter can pack quite a punch." Sakura smirked, holding her fist up threateningly. Sasuke felt his teammate's familiar, but stiflingly plentiful chakra emanating from her. Sakura then quickly snuffed it out almost entirely, so she wouldn't catch Orochimaru's attention. Sasuke looked back at his sword, that had been buried until the hilt just from one little kick from Sakura, and he nodded, turning back around. 

"Seems legit." Sasuke said, eyebrows widening at a Sharingan using Uchiha wielding Sakura's powerful punch. He nearly shuddered. "Does she have... that?" Sasuke pointed at Sakura's forehead. Sasuke had seen that diamond mark on one person, Tsunade Senju, a long time ago. But Sasuke had heard from Orochimaru that that little seal had a massive amount of power in it. The fact that Sakura possessed it meant that his teammate had gone through quite a change.

"Not quite yet. Sarada isn't super good at medical ninjutsu, either, so it looks like she'll be sticking to your techniques." She smiled. "That's alright, though. She can use the Chidori." She commented, almost offhandedly, and she watched as Sasuke's eyes once again widened. "Like I said, she's pretty smart. She just turned twelve."

Sasuke had been about a year older than her, then. "Impressive." He murmured. "What else is there that I should know?" Sasuke asked, scooting forward and also leaning against the wall beside Sakura's wall, uncrossing his ankles, and sitting in the W position. 

Sakura hummed in interest, before her eyes lit up. "Oh! You're Naruto's kid's teacher."

"I'm what?"

"You're Boruto Uzumaki's master." Sakura elaborated. "Naruto's son who is Sarada's age. He looks exactly like Naruto used to, and acts a lot like him too. He's just a tad... spoiled."

Sasuke was absolutely astounded. "How low have my standards sunk to accept Naruto's kid as my student? I'm not Kakashi."

"Well... Boruto is a bit smarter than Naruto was back then, and he has a few things that you're the best option to help him with." Sakura said, shrugging. "It's hard to explain, but you like the kid deep down, so don't talk bad about it until you try it. Boruto's a good kid." Sakura laughed. "He's a massive pain, though."

Sasuke sighed, nodding. The idea of him taking Naruto's kid under his wing seemed utterly foreign, and definitely not likely to happen any time soon, but if Sakura said so... It had occurred to him that she might be lying, a couple of times, but so far, he hadn't spotted a single lie in her demeanor, and everything she was saying seemed to check out. Besides, this was Sakura. She was brutally honest almost all the time. 

"Ano, sorry to just spring this on you all of the sudden, you know?" Sakura smiled at him, crossing her arms, and tilting her head to the side. She seemed to understand that everything seemed just a little too overwhelming. "I just felt like you needed to know."

"Oh. Yeah, how did you get here anyway?" Sasuke was surprised that he had forgotten to ask- it had just escaped his mind, what with all the other information he was being confronted with. He supposed he had a good excuse, given that he had just found out about his daughter, and that he killed Itachi. He had completed both of his life goals.

"Let's just say, never play around in Naruto's office, hm?" Sakura said, to answer his question, giggling with a playful look in her face. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Of course that was how she got here. Sasuke refused to ask why Naruto had an office.

"Do I want to know?" Sasuke asked, eyebrows raising. That would be some story to tell the people back at her home. 

"Probably not." Sakura said, winking at him. "But I think my Sasuke-kun should be on his way right about--" a portal suddenly opened up behind her, and a man wearing black stepped out of it. "--now!" Sakura finished. 

Sasuke's eyes moved until they landed on the new figure- Sakura was right, he did wear black a lot, and his hair was longer. So apparently none of this was a lie. Sasuke wasn't super surprised that Sakura hadn't lied, but he was surprised at his new self's look. He was tall- way taller than Sakura, and, maybe two heads taller than Sasuke right now. He was good looking, Sasuke supposed, not that that mattered. Luckily, he still carried around a sword, but perhaps the most surprising thing at all that Sakura had failed to mention was that he was missing an arm. That didn't look to have hindered Sasuke's older self in any way, and Sakura had said he was one of the strongest people alive, so he probably didn't need it anyway, but younger Sasuke looked down at his own arm and decided he would hate parting with it. The older version of himself had lines under his eyes that reminded Sasuke way too much of his aniki. Speaking of his eyes, they looked weird- almost... grey, a much softer color than Sasuke's normally did. But Sasuke didn't really have time to question the color change.

"Well, here's something you don't see every day." The older Sasuke said, leaning against the door frame with a small smirk on his face. "Your wife cheating on you with your younger self. How sad is that?" It was a little surprising how older Sasuke didn't school his facial expressions as much anymore- his eyes seemed soft and relieved to see his wife, and his smiles came a little easier. Maybe it was just because of Sakura's influence, or maybe the world was much kinder to older Sasuke. 

Sakura laughed and ran to Older Sasuke for a hug, which he willingly accepted, which wasn't something his younger self was used to. "Hey, anata! I'm happy you found me! Sorry for running off like that." Apparently Sakura ran off completely randomly, scaring everyone, Sasuke thought, smirking. That did sound like her.

"You should be. Do you have any idea how worried I-- ehm, Sarada was?" Older Sasuke asked, stopping himself a little. Younger Sasuke gave him a look, before sighing and shaking his head.

"See, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura looked back at Sasuke's younger self with a cheerful face. She jabbed her thumb at his older self, before pointing at Sasuke. "You haven't changed a bit."

"Oh, shut up. Let's go home, huh?" Older Sasuke asked, stopping to look at his younger self, a little dismissively. Sasuke understood now what Sakura had meant by emotionless. "Damn... wish I was still that young."

Younger Sasuke stared awkwardly at his older self, unsure what to do. Older Sasuke looked to be resisting the urge to sigh, instead tilting his head to the side, and looking at his beaming wife for a few moments, then turning back to his younger self knowingly.

"Has she turned you into putty in her hands yet?" Sasuke asked his younger self. "No surprise."

"Uh, nice to meet you too?" Normal Sasuke said, unsure what his older self meant by that, but not super thrilled to be referred to as 'putty'.

"Yep, definitely putty." Older Sasuke scoffed, which made his younger self narrow his eyes. "I never talked like that. Okay, Sakura, let's go."

"Well great." Sakura pouted, semi-childishly. "Can't we stay longer, Sasuke? You were so cute when you were younger!" She reached out and ruffled the younger boy's hair. Younger Sasuke frowned at the gesture, wincing at her fingers. I don't much like that...

"Sakura, we have a child. Well, she's not that little anymore, but you get it. We have to go." Sasuke sighed. "She's already all grown up and taking crazy missions."

"Kids." Younger Sasuke sighed, as if he understood exactly what he meant.

"Right?" Older Sasuke did the same. It took a minute for the irony of that statement to sink in, and he chuckled a little.

"OOOKAY, let's go." Sakura pulled on her husband's hand, nodding towards the door. Younger Sasuke prayed that Orochimaru wouldn't notice the future Uchiha Sasuke and Sakura's presence, because both of them had such massive amounts of chakra that it would be an incredible miracle if Orochimaru didn't come barging in. "It was really nice seeing you again, younger anata." She said, pulling the boy into a hug, which made Sasuke tense up until she let go. He still wasn't super used to that, but he was glad that Sakura didn't seem to hold that against him. "Be a good boy. Don't do drugs. Don't try to destroy Konoha. Don't try to kill your brother. And definitely don't smile."

Hearing that last bit, younger Sasuke smiled a little. It was small, barely visible, but definitely there. Older Sasuke seemed exasperated, so younger Sasuke sent him a glare. "AHA!" Sakura grinned excitedly. "Told you I could make you smile!" She turned her head to Sasuke's older self.

"Never mind that, Sakura. Let's just go." Sasuke said, anxious to get back into his own world, where everything made sense, and he didn't have to be directly confronted with the mistakes he had made as a teenager in person form.

"Okay. Bye, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura kissed his cheek and turned to her husband, grabbing his hand again and puling him to the middle of the room. "I'll see you in a few years."

Sasuke looked at his younger self fondly, for a moment, then reached out and poked him in the forehead using two fingers, stepping back right away before he could see his past self's confused expression. "Be good."

Then they were gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~《🌸》~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sakura jumped awake, panting heavily. She heard Sasuke sigh, so she turned around to look at him. His eyes were open, and he seemed to be chewing on something. Sakura sighed, that big brain of his was always working. She caught his attention and poked him in the nose. The moonlight streaming through their room settled on his face, and Sakura was once again astounded by her husband's sheer beauty. 

"Tell me you had the same dream as me." Sakura pleaded, a little concerned for her own mental health. "Please tell me I'm not crazy."

"You're crazy alright." Sasuke nodded, rubbing his head and moving his hair out of his face, before he gave her a look. "But I am too, apparently. Because I have a vague memory of a pink haired kunoichi showing up one day..." It was true, Sasuke had a memory. "I remember some of the stuff you said. I think some of it stuck with me for a while, even though I forgot all about it soon after I met you. It's probably why I came to the good side so easily."

"Easily?" Sakura scoffed, before she sighed and let out a little laugh.

Sasuke chuckled, shifting so his arm was resting beneath his head as a pillow. "Okay, maybe not easily. Wait..." More memories of that night came back. "Sakura, you called me emotionless!" He said, shifting once again and put a hand on his chest. "I'm hurt!" Sakura smirked. She of all people knew that Sasuke wasn't anywhere near close to emotionless.

"I'm sorry you're so monotone!" Sakura retorted, sticking her tongue out at him childishly. Sasuke smiled at his wife's ridiculousness. He's so cute...

Sasuke huffed before pulling Sakura in for a kiss, which honestly made Sakura freak out inside, even though affectionate interactions like this were really common now. Sasuke didn't tell Sakura that he had been somewhere else before he'd joined her dream. She'd had a long enough night as it was, and making her worry over him more was out of the question. 

Sasuke was so tired his eyes were droopy. So he lay back and sighed. He'd worry about that tomorrow.

Yes! Before you ask, yes that was a continuation of Sasuke Has An Identity Crisis! This was a remake of the original that got deleted (somehow???) idk but I changed a lot of stuff and hopefully this ended up semi-better than it used to be bc I stayed up till 1 in the morning writing this because I miss that one shot. 

Hope y'all enjoyed the remake of Sasuke Meets A Strange Lady. There you go.

I'm tired as hecc... boa noite, amores, love you all!