The next few days passed quickly. And despite the lack of different things she found herself doing (or, not doing), she felt herself growing exhausted by the time the sun set each day.

Being a mother was exhausting, and Sakura hadn't been expecting it. Souta slept soundly through the night but once the sun was up, so was he.

On the first day when she awoke to him climbing into bed with her—pulling the blanket off of her in his attempt to crawl up onto the bed—she almost screamed. She wasn't used to being awoken by small giggling creatures, and if she hadn't immediately recognized his messy dark pink hair, she would've probably kicked him off the side of the bed.

Sasuke seemed to realize this and when she'd sat up and helped the toddler onto the bed with her, he was standing in the doorway, watching her cautiously. Sakura had swallowed thickly, still uneasy about being under his gaze for any long period of time, and forced a smile at him. He hadn't smiled back, and instead turned around and walked down the hallway and out of sight.

The sleeping arrangements had never been discussed, but Sasuke had been giving her space, instead choosing to sleep in one of the many spare bedrooms while she grew accustomed to her new life. And despite being grateful for the space she couldn't help but feel as if something was missing when she laid down to sleep each night in a bed that was far too big for just one person.

The third morning she awoke she was stunned to find Hana standing in the doorway.

"Mom," she called again a little louder, seemingly pleased as Sakura sat up, blinking away sleep. "It's so weird waking up before you," she girl smirked before muttering softly. "You have a visitor."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, a twinge of anxiety pulsing through her. She hadn't seen any new faces since she'd learned about Kakashi and her mother—well, she hadn't seen any new old faces—and she had thought that it had been agreed that she wouldn't talk to anyone else until she was ready. So as she stood, thanked Hana, and began to dress herself she couldn't control her nerves.

When she finally emerged from her room, Hana was still standing in the hallways waiting. After looking Sakura up and down, the girl let out a light laugh. "Calm down. It's just Grandpa."

Perhaps a bit too eagerly, Sakura raced down the stairs, flying around the corner, down the hall, and into the kitchen.

And at the sight of Sasuke and her father sitting at the table, talking over mugs of dark coffee, she paused. The reminder that this was her life now still sending her reeling at times. She still wasn't used to seeing Sasuke so calm and domesticated. When he'd made waffles for breakfast the first morning she'd been in the house, she'd started laughing uncontrollably at the sight.

She'd of course apologized afterward, but had chosen to keep the reason for her ridiculous reaction a secret. Maybe she'd tell him eventually, but not until she was more comfortable around him.

"Ah, there you are," her father turned to her, grinning as she approached, "I was wondering when I'd see you."

"Dad," gasped at the sight of him, "you're so old." Hana snickered behind her before Sakura realized how rude her words were. "Ah, I'm sorry, it's just—"

He waved a hand in the air and laughed, "Yeah I know all about you and your memory issues. Go a little easy on me though, okay? Sheesh." He stood up and shuffled over to her, opening his arms wide and inviting her in for a hug. "How've you been?"

She returned the hug without hesitation, taking a moment to enjoy the familiar embrace of her father. But as she opened her mouth to reply her thoughts immediately went to her mother, and she found herself coughing to cover up the sound of the sob that almost slipped out.

Thankfully, her dad had always been good at picking up on her emotional state—"you're as easy to read as your mother, kid" he'd told her sometime in the months before she'd blacked out and woken up thirteen years later—and quickly he held her closely, whispering reassuring words to her.

Eventually she was able to collect herself and was lead to the table. Sniffling back her tears and wiping at her face she looked around, quickly noticing Hana's absence.

"She has a mission early," Sasuke told her, walking into her line of sight. "And Souta…" with a gesture behind her she turned and followed his line of sight. When she turned and saw the small boy fast asleep in his high chair she let out a soft laugh, the sight lifting her spirits a bit.

"Why's he so tired?"

"He was up in the middle of the night," Sasuke spoke, walking over to the toddler and lifting him out of the chair, holding him against his chest gently, "he didn't get much sleep."

Despite her chest fluttering at the sight of Sasuke cradling their son so carefully, Sakura still frowned, "Oh. I didn't hear him."

"It's alright, I had him," he assured her, turning toward her. Her frown must've been more noticeable than she thought because when he offered her a slight smile and turned to leave the room, he spoke again. "You're still getting used to all this, don't worry."

"Yeah, but—"

"If you want to stay up all night with him next time, I'll let you," he spoke over his shoulder, a hint of amusement in his tone. "I'll be right back."

When her father laughed at Sasuke's words, Sakura turned toward him, redirecting her frown his way. "What?"

"It's so clear you're not yourself," he spoke, smiling. He truly did look so much older. Sakura remembered him having maybe one or two gray hairs, now they were laced throughout his entire head. The laugh lines around his mouth and eyes were much more pronounced and she could even hear the proof of his aging in his voice.

"Why do you say that?"

He let out another quick laugh. "Well, for starters, you look so uncomfortable. I don't know anyone who could look this uncomfortable in their own home. Typically you're dead on your feet until you have a cup of coffee in you."

She pouted slightly, blushing at his words. She'd started drinking coffee when she began working under Tsunade, and she soon found herself running off the stuff on some of her busier days. The news was comforting though. To know that even one small part of her hadn't changed in over a decade made her feel a little saner.

"So what do you think?" He asked, leaning back in his chair and picking his mug back up. "Surprised?"

"Of course I am," she blurted out, biting her lip and glancing over toward the doorway. When she found that Sasuke was still gone she leaned forward a little bit, "I'm married and have kids," she spoke quietly, "Two kids! And I have a big house and a huge yard and look!" Pointing to her forehead with one hand, she brushed her bangs out of her eyes with the other, "I have the byakugou seal now. Of course I'm surprised. I don't know how else to be!"

"Are you happy with what you've seen?" He asked genuinely.

She paused at that, snapping her mouth shut and frowning. Her mother was dead, her sensei had been murdered, and the boy who tried murdering her over twelve years ago was now her husband. But she had two absolutely beautiful, wonderful children who, despite not knowing them entirely, she could already tell she had a deep-seeded, whole-hearted love for.

"I'm not unhappy." She confessed, her words chosen carefully.

With a satisfied noise, Kizashi finished his coffee and placed his mug down firmly on the table before him. "Good."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Good?"

"That's a good start." Reaching over, he patted her knee a couple of times before standing. "Guess I'll be leaving then." Lifting his arms high up, stretching, he turned and began walking. "I'll see you later, kiddo."

It took Sakura a couple of seconds to react but when she did she stood and immediately followed her father. "Wait, so soon?" When he stopped and looked over at her, an eyebrow raised, she found herself fumbling for words. "Why are you leaving already?"

"I'm actually not supposed to be here," he grinned sheepishly at her, shrugging slightly. "They don't want me telling you anything else—Ino and Naruto. Although I told them a dozen times that I wasn't going to say anything." He shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Sasuke snuck me in though," he grinned once more, "and I know you're in good hands so it's not like you need me to stick around."

I do though, Sakura wanted to tell him. I do need you. She wanted to run up and hug him again and indulge in the comfort of her father's embrace. She wanted to be sixteen again and not entirely independent of her parents.

But as she waved goodbye and watched as her father retreated, she said nothing, instead choosing to stand her ground and simply wait for him to leave.

She was contemplating her next move when a sudden presence behind her almost caused her to jump out of her skin.

"He left already?"

Swallowing the scream that almost escaped, Sakura turned slightly to peek over her shoulder. Sasuke was still giving her some space, but he was far too good at sneaking up on her. She knew she had to start being more self-aware. If not, she might accidentally strike him one of these days.

"Yeah, something about you sneaking him in?" The idea was incredibly humorous to her so when she shot him a wry smile, it was wholly genuine.

He half-shrugged before turning and walking back into the kitchen. "Those two are acting ridiculous. It's your father, he just wanted to see you." Picking up Kizashi's empty mug he deposited it in the sink, "He deserves at least that much." And as he leaned back against the counter Sakura found herself thinking about how strange it was, how well fatherhood seemed to suit Sasuke. He seemed so tame, so purely gentle. The thought caused emotion to tug at her chest.

And when he looked at her then, it suddenly struck her: this was the first time the two of them had been alone since she'd gotten home. Usually one of their children—typically Souta—was around to diffuse any tension and to provide Sakura with something else to focus on. Something other than her husband.

"Souta's asleep in bed. He'll probably be out for another couple of hours before he's back to normal." Sasuke spoke, pulling her attention back onto him. "Do you want a cup of coffee?"

Sakura almost turned him down—almost. But as she took one look at the strange-looking coffee maker that sat on the counter beside the sink, she hesitated. One thing that was taking time to get used to was the new features on just about every appliance in the house. She'd tried using a hair-dryer the other day but couldn't find out how to turn it on. Thankfully when she'd walked downstairs, hair still a wet mess, Hana had laughed and walked her back upstairs to show her how it worked.

"Yes, but…" she had no idea how to tell him that she didn't remember how the coffee maker operated, but he didn't give her time to finish talking before he'd turned around had begun to pour fresh water into the contraption. "I-you don't have to do that…"

"It's nothing," he said dismissively, and when the fresh aroma of coffee began to once more fill the room, she ceased all of her opposition. "I've got it." He peeked at her as she stood there awkwardly, and his eyes on her only caused her to feel more uncomfortable. "You can sit down," he gestured toward the table.

Sakura moved slowly before eventually sitting herself down where she'd been sitting only minutes before. "It's just that I typically drink two cups every morning and I—"

"Don't worry. I know already." She must've looked as surprised since he gave her a small smirk. "First cup with one cream and one sugar; it's as strong as you can take it and you like it that way because it wakes you up. Second one with so much cream and sugar you can't tell its coffee anymore." He paused momentarily as he worked. "At least that's how you've taken it since I came back."

"I still drink it like that?" She was just as surprised at the fact she still took her coffee the same way after all these years as she was at the fact that he knew this. Not only knew it, but knew it and was the one that prepared it on a regular basis.

When he approached her, handing Sakura her cup, he had a slight smile on his face. It wasn't one to mock or tease her though, instead it was an affectionate one. "You're a creature of habit."

"I guess I am," and when she brought the hot liquid to her lips and took a small, tentative sip, her eyes almost rolled into the back of her head. "Oh," she gasped, "that's so much better than how I make it. Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

And then, silence.

It wasn't awkward in the simple way that a lapse of something to talk about with a stranger or new acquaintance would be. Instead it was a painful, heavy type of silence. A silence that carried over ten years of lost memories.

Years ago, as a naïve child, Sakura may have thought that ending up in a situation like this would've been a dream come true. Now that she was living in this confusing, never-ending, day dream-esque situation, she knew it was only endlessly tiring.

What she wouldn't do to have her memories back...

"I hate not knowing." She blurted out after a few minutes. Sasuke, who had busied himself with reading something on the table in front of him, looked up at her with a readied look of patience on his face.

"I can tell you things," he reminded her, "you're the one who wanted to try and wait it out."

"Yeah well it's frustrating and my memories are still gone and they haven't come back yet and—and I'm sick of waiting!"

Sasuke sat up a little straighter, giving her his full attention now. "Okay. What do you want to know?"

Sakura looked him in the eye briefly, even though simply doing that was still a bit difficult to do. The fact that he now looked at her and not through her—like her last memory of him—helped immensely.

With his patient eyes on her, she held her breath, took a long sip of her coffee, ignoring the sting of the almost too-hot liquid, and bit her tongue.

"What exactly happened that day back in Iron Country?"

If he was hesitant about talking to her about that day, it didn't show. "You tracked me down; you were going to poison me. I tried attacking you and Kakashi showed up. I fought Kakashi, you healed Karin, then you tried attacking me again. I grabbed you, tried attacking again, and Naruto showed up. Fought a little more, then I left." He paused for a moment, waiting for a reaction perhaps. "Naruto and Kakashi can fill you in on what happened after that, because I don't know."

Sakura was so stunned. "You say it all so simply. As if we didn't try to kill each other."

"It was thirteen years ago, Sakura. I know you don't remember but we've already talked about it countless times."

Biting the inside of her cheek, Sakura frowned. "Sorry, it's just—it's weird. No, not weird. It's just—"

"Scary?" He leaned back in his chair slightly. "And don't apologize. You can't help it."

"Yeah," she breathed, "it is kind of scary."

"That's okay."

"It doesn't feel okay. I mean, we're married right?" She could feel her cheeks burn but she pushed her embarrassment aside. "I shouldn't be scared of you." Pulling her knees up to her chest she pressed her palms against her eyes. She let out a laugh, "I'm such a mess."

"Yeah," he agreed, "a bit."

At his agreement she dropped her hands and gaped at him. Sasuke simply stared at her for a long moment before saying, "Sorry. Bad joke."

When Sakura started laughing, she didn't know when she'd stop. The side of Sasuke was just so foreign to her, and if she were being honest with herself she was loving it.

Eventually when she caught her breath, wiping tears from her face and holding back another round of giggles, she looked at him. "So, good joke?" He asked, his expression softening at the sight of her laughter.

"You're funny," she spoke between giggles, one arm wrapping around her midsection while she combated her laughter, "how did I not know you were funny? I mean, I know you didn't make jokes or anything when we were younger, but you've got this… dry humor that just works and like… you're actually funny."

"No I'm not," he rolled his eyes, and even that made Sakura laugh again. Standing up, he walked over toward the coffee maker and began making another cup.

"I'm serious!" Jumping up out of her chair, she followed him, still giggling. "Whatever. I think you're funny."

"Thanks," he spoke, not a hint of genuine thanks in his voice. Sakura only laughed again. When he frowned though, opening up cupboards and closing them, she stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"Out of sugar. I guess I have to go shopping today." Stirring the coffee, he handed it over to her. "Here. Not as sweet as you like it, but still pretty sweet."

"Thanks," blinking down at the mug, she shuffled on her feet slightly, "Can I come? Shopping, I mean."

He nodded but didn't look at her as he cleaned up. "I think that's okay," he muttered quietly, then louder, "sure. After Souta wakes up we can go." Brushing his hands off on his pants he turned toward her, "I'm going to shower before we leave though."

Almost in slow-motion, Sakura watched as he leaned forward, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder before kissing her affectionately on the forehead.

But as soon as he pulled back, Sakura could tell that he'd realized his mistake.

"Shit," he ran a hand over his face, closing his eyes tightly, "I'm sorry about that, it's—habit." He explained, visibly frustrated with himself. "I'll just…" And turning around swiftly, he strode out of the room, leaving Sakura behind, hot coffee in her hands and eyes as wide as saucers.

Several seconds later, when she could faintly hear the sound of the shower running, she lifted a hand and pressed warmed fingers against the place his lips had just abandoned. Butterflies were fluttering against her ribcage and a light, warm feeling was coursing through her veins.

Sasuke had kissed her. It had been an accident, of course. Just a simple slip-up, and he'd apologized as quickly as it had happened. But he'd kissed her right on her seal, and Sakura felt as if she were floating.

So she couldn't quite help herself when she quite literally ran up the stairs to dress herself and get ready for their trip to the market.

The week went by so quickly that Sakura found herself shocked when she learned it was already Friday again. Her days had been full of Souta, Hana, and Sasuke, and despite it being rather exhausting to be a mother, Sakura found herself loving it more and more with each passing day. This life may have been thrown at her, but she had begun embracing it fully, and she could now easily say that she was happy with things.

Her schedule kept her busy, the routine she adapted to grounded her, and this family of hers made her smile constantly.

Sasuke hadn't kissed her again since the incident in the kitchen, and despite knowing that he was simply being cautious, every time they parted ways she found herself praying for another slip-up. Despite the lack of accidental blatant affection, he was starting to slip up in more subtle ways. Sakura would find his hand on the small of her back quite often; he would retract his arm and pretend not to notice his mistake when she'd look at him. And the other night while she'd been changing Souta's diaper, her hair had fallen into her face and Sasuke had swept it over her shoulder, even re-pinning her bangs back in place while she tried hard to keep the focus on the scrambling toddler before her.

At first, the accidental touches had been enough for her, but her craving for more direct contact with him was starting to overwhelm her a bit.

But the increasing tension she was beginning to feel was put on hold when her twelve-year-old daughter started throwing a fit that afternoon.

"I just don't understand why I can't go tonight!" Hana exclaimed, going as far as to stomp her foot as she spoke (yelled) at her father. Sakura sat on the floor in the next room, Souta showing her his different stuffed animals, while the two dark-haired Uchiha argued.

"You know why," Sasuke replied, his voice much quieter than hers, "we've already talked about it."

"But I apologized!"

"Which you're supposed to do when you do something wrong—"

"It doesn't make sense though for her to ground me for something I said to you."

"We're your parents, that's just how it works."

Sakura quickly found herself struggling to listen to the conversation. It seemed to her that Sasuke was keeping his voice down on purpose, and as they talked Hana's voice was getting slightly quieter.

"She was being so unreasonable and you know it though!"

There was a pause, and Sakura could hear the faint sound of Sasuke sighing. "Listen," his voice was just barely above a whisper. Clearly he was intending on only speaking loudly enough for Hana to hear him, but her hearing had always been sharp, and she could still hear him distinctly, "I can't tell you right now, but that's because," he paused, hesitated, "there's something you don't know."

Sakura felt her throat growing thick. Sure, there was plenty she didn't know due to her memory-loss, but something told her that this, what Sasuke was talking about, was something entirely different.

"About Mom?" Hana finally lowered her voice to match his, and now Sakura was really struggling to hear their words. "What? About her brain?"

"No, not—"

"MAMA!"

Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin when Souta yelled, and when she turned her head to see him pouting at her, her expression softened. "Sorry baby," she spoke affectionately, smiling, "Mama didn't mean to ignore you. Don't yell like that though."

He smiled a bright smile up at her before handing her a purple dog and turning around, babbling to himself and to the blue dog he held in his hands.

Sakura attempted to listen further, but Souta's outburst must've gotten their attention, too, because now all she heard was silence.

Several minutes later when Hana walked back into the room, frown etched deeply into her features, Sakura felt the urge to ask what was wrong, but when she realized today's date, she suddenly remembered.

"Is this the night your friend is having that party?"

Hana plopped down on the floor right next to Sakura and let out a deep sigh. "Yeah. It's not a party though, it's a movie night with my friends. Osamu has them on the last Friday of every month. And it was supposed to be my turn to pick the movies." Her frown deepened as she spoke.

"Osamu… that's Kurenai's son, right?" Hana nodded. "Wow. The last time I saw her, she was so pregnant she was ready to pop."

"I like Kurenai-san," Hana commented, still pouting. "She's nice. And really funny."

"Is she?" Sakura mused, watching her son play. "I guess I didn't get to know her until I got older. I don't ever remember having more than a handful of conversations with her."

A smirk fought its way onto Hana's face. "You guys are really good friends now. Osamu has been my best friend since I was a baby. Well, he was my only friend until I got to school. Now there's Izumi and Hikaru and Taichi and Aito. And there's my teammates and Osamu's too."

"That's good," Sakura smiled. To hear that her daughter had such close friends made her feel warm, her thoughts going to her own friends. Then, another thought struck her.

"Why did I ground you?"

"I got in a fight with Dad. Uh, not quite a fight I guess. Dad's pretty passive. I just said some pretty mean things. That's why you grounded me."

"Oh," Sakura looked over at her daughter, and she found herself once more struck by the physical similarities between her and Sasuke. "You must've said some bad stuff, huh?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, picking at a stray string on her sock.

"Sorry," Sakura said, "about the whole 'grounding you' thing, I mean. You seem pretty upset about it all."

"It's whatever," she said, still focused on her sock, "I guess I'll skip my turn tonight and just wait until next month."

Over the next several minutes, Sakura sat back and watched as Souta got Hana to start participate in whatever little game he was currently playing.

Sakura had never had any siblings of her own, and she knew that Sasuke's sibling experience had been less than ideal, but witnessing Hana play with Souta and seeing the love in the young girl's eyes for her brother made Sakura's chest warm.

"Hey," Sakura leaned over, speaking quietly, "I don't know if this will work or not, but I can try talking to Dad for you," she offered. Referring to Sasuke as 'Dad' and being referred to as 'Mom' was still something she was struggling to adapt to, but the feeling of weirdness was slowly going away.

Hana's dark eyes widened. "Are you serious?" And when Sakura nodded the girl squealed and wrapped her arms around Sakura's waist. "Oh, my god! Thank you thank you thank you!" Sakura was taken off guard but quickly returned the firm embrace. "I love you, Mom!"

And with that, she jumped up and skipped right out of the room. And just as she left, her voice rang through the house, "Daaaad! Hey, Dad! Mom wants to talk to you!"

Sakura winced at the shouting before bracing herself for Sasuke's inevitable approach. That hadn't been quite how she'd been planning on talking to him about the situation. She'd been hoping to maybe catch him doing something else before slipping the subject into conversation carefully.

So much for subtlety.

When Sasuke appeared in the doorway, eyebrow raised, Sakura cursed under her breath.

"Typically you're the one scolding me for swearing in front of him," Sasuke spoke, walking into the room, gesturing to Souta, playing innocently before them. "What do you need?"

"It's—I wanted to talk to you about Hana."

"She didn't ask you to talk to me about her being grounded, did she?"

"I—what? No. I'm actually the one that wanted to talk to you about it. I—well, I told her I would, but that's just because she seemed so upset." Sakura paused, took a deep breath. "What I'm trying to say, is that she didn't put me up to this."

Sasuke gave her a skeptical look but still sat down on the couch behind her and said nothing to doubt her claims. "Okay. So what? Are you going to tell me to un-ground her?"

"Maybe not completely," she spoke, biting her lip. "I don't know. I've only been doing this whole parenting thing for like, two weeks now. I still don't know how it works. But like, maybe letting her go for a little while, or just for one movie, instead of letting her go for the whole thing." Sakura paused, thinking. "What time does it typically end?"

"They usually spend the night, but…"

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "But what?"

"Recently we've been making her come home when the movies are done. So around two AM."

"She's only twelve," Sakura said, shocked. "Wouldn't it be better for her to stay there?"

Sasuke frowned, not saying anything else. It was apparent, in the way he crossed his arms over his chest, that they'd had this very conversation already. Perhaps not too long ago.

"Is this because he's a boy?" she asked, eyes narrowed as she gauged Sasuke's reaction. When her husband snorted and his frown deepened, Sakura almost laughed. "Wait, does she like him?"

"It's like you always tell me, 'they're best friends'. But I know for a fact that kid is in love with her."

"Wait, really?" Sakura lowered her voice a little, in case their daughter was attempting to eavesdrop; but with a quick check, Sakura couldn't sense her anywhere within earshot. Scooting herself backward and sitting up on the couch beside him, she gave him a strange look. "How do you know that?"

Sasuke pouted slightly. "I just know."

"So, what? Is this her secret boyfriend, or whatever?"

"No," Sasuke shifted slightly, as if uncomfortable with the conversation. "At least, he better not be."

"Is he a bad kid?"

"No."

"Is he mean to her?"

"No."

"Is he a bad influence?"

"No."

"I don't understand the problem." Sakura stared at him, attempting to figure him out for a full minute before a spark of realization hit her. "You're joking."

He seemed visibly irritated, "What?"

Sakura laughed, "Please don't tell me you're the type of over-protective dad that refuses to let his daughter do anything."

"It's not like that," he spoke quietly, looking away. Souta approached them, drawing both of their attention away from the conversation. He babbled a bit about his 'doggie', before taking the stuffed animal Sakura held out of her hands and giving it to his father. Sasuke smiled and thanked the boy quietly, and Souta—content at the reply—turned back around and went back to playing with his toys.

"I don't want her getting hurt."

"Oh," Sakura spoke dumbly, "oh." As his reasoning dawned on her, she wanted to kick herself for her thoughtless reply.

"She's so much like you Sakura," he turned and looked at her seriously, "I don't want her getting hurt like you did."

Although his statement was incomplete Sakura knew precisely what he meant.

'I don't want him hurting her the way I hurt you.'

"Even still," she spoke up after a long silence, "maybe have a little bit of faith in her?" She tried not to look too hesitant when she reached over and grabbed his hand within hers, squeezing it reassuringly. Sasuke didn't turn to look at her, instead he simply linked their fingers together (she couldn't help but wonder how many times they've held hands like this and how comfortable—how right—it felt) and let out a long sigh.

"I know." He spoke, turning toward her. "One movie. That's as far as I'm budging." He gave her a crooked grin, "At least one of us has to be consistent with this whole punishment thing."

At the sight of his smile, she could feel her heart begin to race, and when he squeezed her hand, she was sure her own smile was beginning to look downright goofy.

"Great," she breathed, standing up and dropping his hand, "I'll go tell her."

And as she flitted out of the room in search of their daughter, she couldn't help but laugh at Sasuke's words that called out to her.

"Make sure she knows this is your idea. I at least have to pretend to be upset with her."

Laughing, she realized that at least one of her fears about her future—about this life she'd been surprised with—could be laid to rest: Sasuke was a good father.

A/N: I uploaded this chapter two months ago on my Tumblr account and swore that I'd uploaded it here. Apparently not. Sorry 'bout that.

I have some not-so-good news. Not bad news, exactly, but I am putting this story on a temporary hiatus. y. I promise. I'm focusing more on SYS for the moment so most of the updates you will all see for now will be for that. Now that doesn't mean I won't update at all, but there will be no regular updates again until mid-spring. Again, I'm sorry, but my mental state is fucked and I can only really focus on one story in the meantime. Hope you'll all understand. See you all around April. Love ya.