Epilogue

"Not quick enough."

Sand suddenly exploded into the ground, missing Gaara by a good few seconds and when he sensed another attack to his left, his own sand lashed out, tackling it. The following explosion was not as great as it could have been, making his eyes narrow as he landed against the far wall, using his chakra to stick to it.

His hair was shielding his eyes from the two opponents though he was still capable of watching them. Not that he really needed to. Covering his eyes was a good thing because even though Gaara's expression was nearly always blank, it meant they'd have absolutely no idea what to expect just in case they'd learned how to read him.

"How's this, father?"

And then sand was smashing into the wall.

"Still too slow." A small smirk graced his lips as he ran across the wall, easily dodging the sand that was continuously crashing into the wall, leaving obvious cracks and holes in its wake. "You're not concentrating hard enough." The smirk vanished as Gaara flipped backwards and landed effortlessly on his feet, staring the child down. "Clear your mind."

Said child glared up at him without a hint of fear or hesitancy, her eyes narrowing further as the seconds crawled by. Those eyes that matched his in colour but her mother's in shape suddenly widened and realising what was about to happen, Gaara's sand came to his defence, blocking the kunai that had been hurtling towards him.

He tilted his head to the side, gazing at the second child who suddenly dropped beside him. "You will have to do better than that."

The two were more or less the same height, though other than their noses, that was all they had in common appearance–wise.

The eldest of the two, Sabaku no Hanako, had hair that was slightly brighter than her brother's and like stated previously, her eyes were the same shade as his own. That long, fiery red hair framed her face beautifully, bringing out all of her best features and making her appear so gentle and feminine, when in fact she was anything but. Hanako was not to be underestimated, as it was she who was the most powerful of the twins.

Sabaku no Hideki had the same shade of hair as himself and also like his father's, his hair was always messy, though you wouldn't know that since he always kept that hood of his up. As for his eyes, he was lucky enough to inherit the same stunning shade as his mother's and the sight of them never failed to have Gaara's heart clenching tightly.

Hideki struggled a bit more with ninjutsu than his sister and more often than not, he was the one making mistakes and causing a problematic situation. Gaara supposed that was all part of his personality, though. After all, his mother had been terrible at pretty much everything except for her chakra control in the beginning and suddenly, her strength and her abilities flourished out of nowhere, practically exploding out of her!

He was doing his best to make sure the same happened for Hideki, although so far, it didn't seem like anything was working.

His daughter, however, had everything coming naturally to her. The sand came to her without her even trying, just as it had for Gaara and as well as that, she inherited her mother's chakra control. Her reserves were as great as her father's (obviously after Shukaku had been extracted from him).

Don't get him wrong, because Hanako definitely had her flaws. She was loud and outspoken, always getting herself into trouble and had no respect for privacy. Her impulsiveness and her temper were awful and she could become overexcited about the smallest of things. As well as this, whereas Hideki was able to mask his expressions easily (taking after his father), Hanako could not.

Her emotions were so raw and so powerful, so very much like her mother's.

How was Gaara supposed to take that away from her? From himself?

So instead of pushing those things out of her, Gaara encouraged both of his children to embrace their emotions, though they were to mask them in front of the enemy or possible opponents. At home, with their precious people, they could show how they were feeling. They were not to hide themselves or try to be anybody else. Not that they would ever do such a thing.

It was so obvious who their mother was.

They both had her bad temper.

Suddenly, two puppets were closing in on him, forcing Gaara to concentrate and he was quick to leap up into the air. The puppets followed and he narrowed his eyes. So Hideki was improving, then. While his control on chakra wasn't as flawless as his mother's, it was still admirable and his uncle had worked tirelessly on teaching Hideki how to control puppets and bring them to life. He trained with him for hours and hours, until they were both drained, teaching Hideki how to fight and protect himself with those puppets.

Sand joined the puppets, putting Gaara on the defensive as his own sand blocked while he dodged. Alone, neither of the twins were a match for him, but together, they certainly kept him on his toes since they were all long-range fighters. It was like their minds were in sync and they always knew what to expect of the other, or what the other was planning.

Suddenly, however, just as Gaara was about to unleash an attack of his own to turn the tables, the doors to their private training quarters slammed open and somebody darted inside, unable to hide their worry and glee and whatever else could be found on their face.

"What is it?" Gaara sighed as he lowered his hand, his sand slipping back into his gourd.

"It's time, Gaara." There was a soft smile. "Temari's gone into labour."

Something within his chest clenched tightly but he didn't focus on it and instead forced his own smile. If anything, it was for the children, who had also come to a stop with their assault. Hideki was panting loudly, as was Hanako, though she did her best to hide her exhaustion. She was too proud at times.

The intruder raised a fine eyebrow. "Will you all be able to travel tonight?"

"Of course." came Gaara's swift reply.

"We're going to be fine, mom." Hanako rolled her eyes.

In response, Sakura narrowed hers, unhappy with her daughter's smart mouth. "Watch your tongue, Hanako–chan." Her smile was fake, her eyes far too creased and her tone far too light to be natural. "Or else I'll be numbing it so that you can't speak at all until you've learned your lesson."

Whether others believed it or not: Sakura was the one who disciplined their children. Well, so did Gaara, but he had a soft spot for them just like she had always said he would. That didn't mean that she didn't, because he had never seen a greater love than the love that would show in her eyes when she spoke of or saw their children, but…

Gaara was unable to find the words and as Sakura smiled more softly, telling their children to go and grab their already packed bags, he walked forward and grabbed her hand, pulling it to his lips so he could kiss it once the children were gone. Her skin was calloused, proving that she was so much more than just a pretty face and as always, it spiked his arousal. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done about it at that moment in time.

"Are you okay?"

Her question had him shutting his eyes and sighing, pausing in his kisses.

It was safe to say that Sakura's 'death' had traumatised him. Actually, Tsunade had called it something more serious, though he vehemently refused to acknowledge such a thing.

Two minutes.

His wife had been dead for two whole minutes and during that time, Gaara had felt lost. He hadn't known what to do with himself or where to turn. Did he take the children? Did he abandon them? Just the sounds of their crying was pushing his already close to the edge patience! What about the others? Their staring was getting to him, too.

Everything and nothing had been on his mind at the exact same time, making Gaara feel as though he was being pulled in so many different directions, to the point where he hadn't even been able to stand without assistance. That assistance had come from none other than Hatake Kakashi, who had lifted him without a word and placed him in the nearest seat.

Oh he could still remember every tortuous moment. The uncertainty. The pure agony. The grief. The overwhelming, sudden loneliness.

It hadn't even come to his attention that two of the nine who had been standing outside the room had disappeared.

The doors to Sakura's hospital room slammed open, revealing a determined blond and an emotionless dark haired male. Neither of them focused on their surroundings. They didn't listen to Ino as she crouched against the wall, clutching her chest and sobbing loudly at the loss of her best friend, her sister. They didn't listen as Shizune ordered them to leave.

Just one look into their eyes had Tsunade shoving the other woman out of the way, had her backing up and allowing them access to the motionless body of their teammate.

"You know what I'm thinking, don't you?" muttered Naruto as he looked up at Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyes were fixed on Sakura's pale, sweaty features, narrowing a fraction at the sight of them. A second later and almost of its own accord, his sharingan was activating, morphing straight into the Mangekyō design. "I'll keep it from breaking free."

And then Naruto was moving forward and grabbing Sakura's hand, shutting his eyes and focusing hard on the beast within himself, demanding that it hand over its chakra.

In an instant, orange–red chakra was all but exploding around his body, causing his skin to burn and clouding his mind. The Kyuubi attempted to take control, to take advantage of his emotions and his pain, but the simple opening of his eyes had that stopping swiftly. Why? Because as soon as he opened his eyes, Naruto met the ones that were across from his. On Sakura's other side stood Sasuke.

Whereas Naruto needed the contact to transfer the Kyuubi's chakra, Sasuke held Sakura's hand just because.

He wasn't as cold hearted as people believed. He remembered all the times Sakura had taken care of him. All the times she'd comforted him and loved him. She made that never ending loneliness ease up, made him feel like he was still a part of something. Sakura was the one who knew without truly thinking it through what he was planning on doing, where he was going. She was the one who turned up alone, trying to talk him into staying, confessing her love and crying that she would do anything to make him stay. If not, then she wanted to go with him.

"Come on, Sakura–chan." Naruto whispered, his eyes narrowing as he watched her face.

There was nothing.

It felt like the seconds that were ticking by lasted an eternity.

"Naruto–"

Sasuke's eyes snapped to Tsunade's, the glare in them vicious and unknowingly, his hold tightened on her hand. "She's not dead."

The blonde was about to argue, was about to demand who the hell the Uchiha thought he was to be speaking to her like that, but something stopped her.

On the hospital bed, Sakura's eyes suddenly regained their light and she was gasping in a deep breath before a strangled sounding scream was leaving her. No doubt it was the chakra burning her skin, burning her insides. At the same time, however, it was acting as her own chakra, giving her more than what she needed to activate her seal, to use the jutsu Sōzō Saisei.

Tsunade's eyes were wide as she watched them, but she quickly snapped out of her shock and stepped closer, grabbing Sakura's face despite the Kyuubi's chakra scalding her hands as she did so. She turned Sakura's head in her direction, her eyes wide as she yelled at her, "The jutsu, Sakura! Use the jutsu!"

It was like they were forcibly prolonging her life and just so the agony would be over with, Sakura nodded shakily, surprised that she even had the strength to lift her hands into the only hand seal. It was not her own strength. It was Naruto manipulating the Kyuubi that was keeping her alive.

"Sasuke."

Red eyes clashed with spinning red and black and slowly, Naruto came back to himself just as he was beginning to lose control, the murderous rage being shoved away. Just enough of the Kyuubi's chakra was left to keep Sakura's circulating around her body and it helped how Tsunade was using her own chakra to keep her heart beating.

That was the back up plan. It had been thought of on the spot and had been riddled with so many dangers and risks that it made the hairs on the back of Gaara's neck stand on end, but he would never be able to repay Sakura's former teammates for what they did. They had risked so much, so, so much for Sakura, to keep her alive.

Not long after the damage was healed and her condition was stabilised, Sakura had fallen unconscious and remained that way for quite a few days. The whole time Gaara had been on edge, unable to eat or sleep or do anything other than stay by her side.

Looking back on that time made him feel rather guilty. Instead of focusing on himself and his grief he should have looked after their children. Their first few days of life and they hadn't seen either of their parents. That didn't mean they were alone, however. They had their aunt and uncle, their godparents and grandparents. They had their parents' friends.

Not a single one of them would allow them to feel lonely.

And now here they were, nine years later, together.

It was something Gaara could not be more thankful for.

"Gaara?"

Eventually his eyes reopened and he offered his wife a smile, gently pulling on her wrist until she was in his arms. And in response, she cupped his cheek, tilting his head downwards so that their eyes could meet.

"It's not the same." murmured Sakura softly. "Temari's pregnancy is completely healthy, Gaara. No complications of any kind and I doubt there will be any during labour, since Ino's the one who will be delivering your nephew."

His smile faded ever so slightly, but he nodded.

Around four years after the twins' birth, Temari had finally married Nara Shikamaru and moved to Konoha (since he was the head of his clan and couldn't move away). At first she didn't want to have children – was strongly against it, actually. But soon enough Shikamaru warmed Temari to the idea of having his children. Not only that, but being around the twins also brought forth a maternal longing.

As for themselves, they were unable to conceive once more. It wasn't for lack of trying, but was as Sakura had suspected right at the very beginning: that particular pregnancy had been their only chance. And even though Gaara had been so very against it for pretty much the entirety of the pregnancy, even though it had almost cost Sakura her life, they were unable to not feel glad that she went through with it.

Pulling Sakura closer, he kissed her softly, chastely. Even now, after nine years, he was still so very grateful to have her by his side. Gaara never took her for granted. Every look, every word, every brush of her lips… It was all cherished. Even when she was yelling at him or getting frustrated with him, Gaara still cherished it–

Well, after the argument had been settled and they'd had amazing make up sex, he did.

"Everything's going to be okay." Sakura promised him, bringing his lips down to hers once more so she could kiss him again. Her lips moved softly with his, comforting and soothing her husband. "Do you want to see your nephew?"

It took him a few moments, but Gaara soon nodded, kissing Sakura one last time before he pulled away and took her hand, guiding her in the direction of the mansion.

Yes, despite everything that had happened, Gaara felt so very happy that his wife had continued with her pregnancy, even though he'd been against it. It took some time, but he warmed to their children – much faster than he thought possible, actually. And again, Sakura had been right: his heart was much bigger than he originally thought.

Along with Sakura, Hanako and Hideki had his heart and he loved his family dearly. Even to this day, he couldn't really believe how lucky he'd been.

"Sakura…" A pause and he turned his head to the side, smiling. "I love you."

Her expression warmed. "I love you, too."

THE END

A/N - I know some of you were probably hoping for a much longer story, but I never planned for this to be any longer than fifteen chapters. Originally, it was only supposed to be ten, but as usual, I got carried away.

Aw, you all seemed so heartbroken last chapter! I'm sorry about that. Oh and in case any of you are confused because it wasn't really clarified: Naruto has been training to control the Kyuubi, but they're still not friends yet. I was going to try and make the epilogue a lot longer with the family going to Konoha and seeing ShikaTem's baby, but... Meh. I prefer short and sweet epilogues. I didn't want to drag it out or anything.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this story! Thank you all for sticking around and sending me kind, encouraging reviews :-)