Astrocam: Here's the final part of Mitara. It's known as the epilogue, and it was written by both me and Asuka. She edited it so that you couldn't tell which person wrote which part. Enjoy.

Sasuke collapsed onto his pillow after stripping down to his boxers and sighing with relief. Another hard day at work was finally over with. Working at McDonald's was not as great as everyone thought it was.

The people who worked there were loud and noisy, and customers complained a lot.

Many times a day he wondered why he worked there in the first place. He was a full-time student at Konoha's most prestigious college; Konoha University, and lived alone off campus!

Not including that he was the heir to one of the largest and successful family businesses in Konoha.

Which pretty much meant that he was loaded.

Yet…

"I hate those fancy rich kids who don't have to work a day in their lives, but still get whatever they want. They'll never understand 'earning your keep' so they end up bossy, selfish, arrogant people. Ne, Sasuke-kun?"

His coal eyes shielded themselves from the world. No, he wasn't going to think this way. He told his father, since he had covered most of the expenses, he would pay the rest- including the rent on the apartment he had bought after graduation.

He lifted a tired coal eye to glance at the picture on the dresser. It had been there ever since he'd moved in- six months ago.

The picture of him and Sakura; prom night. His arms were around her waist and she was cuddled up against him.

Both of them bald.

Sasuke reached up and touched his hair, still kind of short from shaving it all off. But since his hair grew fast, it was returning to its original, spiky form.

He smiled slightly at the picture as he began to drift off to sleep.

"Can…I ask you something?" murmured a viridian eyed girl, swinging herself lightly on a swing.

"Hn." He replied softly, planted on a swing. Swaying back and forth. Feet were placed on the ground as eyes shifted from him to the dirt below.

"You didn't just…do this for me because I'm sick, right?"

Coal eyes looked at her questioningly, but words were unspoken.

The hesitant girl went on. "Kanako told me that…that everyone was treating me different because I was dying-"

But words word lost when the outraged boy leaped off his swing and appeared in front of her. "You're wrong." The boy growled, dipping down to plant a chaste kiss against her lips. "You're wrong…" he repeated against her lips as he pulled away a few seconds later.

Emerald eyes blinked, and red burned her cheeks as the boy touched her; tracing her jaw line with a finger. "…But why?" You'd be better off with her. She isn't sick-"

"No." he admitted, but quickly added, "But she isn't you either."

Satisfied, the no-longer-nervous girl rose from her swing. "Arigato…" a loving, word was whispered before she melted into his arms and against his lips once more.

But as he lost himself in a lost memory, he was brought out of it as he heard his phone shrilly ring and vibrate from somewhere, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin.

BRRRIIIINNGGGGGGGGG! BRRRIINNNGGGG!

He groaned, jumped up out from under the covers and rushed out to the living room where the phone was.

'Note to self: put phone in room. On silent.' He thought grumpily before flipping it open.

"What?" he demanded before a loud, voice yelled in his ear.

"SASUKE!! HINATASINLABORANDTHEYWONTLETMESEEHER!!" yelled a frantic Naruto.

"Dobe, slow down. What's about Hinata?"

"Hinata is…in labor…but they won't…let me…see…her..." Naruto breathed, as if he were hyperventilating. Sasuke sighed. Naruto and Hinata had gotten married a few months after graduation. He'd planned this romantic night, with the help of Sasuke, to propose to her.

And when Naruto had finally asked her at the end of the night, she'd fainted.

Though Sasuke knew, he didn't want to know, what they had done that night, back at Naruto's place.

After 9 months, Hinata was about to give birth anytime now. Only he had hoped that it wouldn't be at ONE THIRTY in the morning.

Especially when he had to work the following morning.

"Why? You're the father aren't you?" the raven haired man asked plainly. He had meant it lightheartedly, but his blonde best friend seemed to explode in panic.

"HOW THE SHOULD I KNOW? THEY WON'T TELL ME ANYTHING!" Naruto screamed. "TEME YOU HAVE TO GET OVER HERE NOW!"

"Why do I have to go?" Sasuke demanded, before jerking the phone away from his ear.

He audibly heard him holler, "'CAUSE YOU CAN GET THE NURSES TO LET ME SEE HINATA AND YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND-DATTEBAYO!"

Contemplating this in his head for a moment, Sasuke sighed. "I'll be there as soon as I can," Sasuke promised, hanging up the phone before Naruto had a chance to say- yell - anything else.

Sasuke ran into his bedroom, pulled on some black jeans and a midnight blue t-shirt, grabbed his car keys and hurried out the door, through the rain, and into his car.

On the drive to the hospital, his mind drifted again as the sound of the raindrops pattered on his car while a particularly fond memory of flashed through his mind…

A girl shivered and thunder crackled through the air.

Obsidian eyes noticed this easily. A smirk creased on his lips. "Scared?" taunted the man before turning back to the road ahead of him.

Emerald eyes shifted away from him with a frown. "No. It was cold in the doctor's office."

"Hn?" asked the boy, a sneer marked his lips.

Viridian eyes glared at him, but obsidian eyes glared back. Defeated, the girl gave in. "Okay-maybe…just a little.

Slightly, the girl jumped as another crackle of thunder boomed through the night; closer to the passenger side of the red Ferrari the boy had picked her up in.

"A little?"

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Hn."

A breath escaped the girl with glowing green eyes. "When me, Ino, Hinata, and Tenten were little, we had our first sleepover at Tenten's. It ended up thunder-storming and the power went out. Me and ­ Hinata were terrified. Tenten was the only one that wasn't scared and Ino slept through it so we huddled together for the rest of the night."

"And you never got over it." the boy concluded in one breath, gripping the steering wheel more lightly.

Stiffly, she nodded.

When he pulled into the driveway of his house and shut off the engine, he turned to her. She was hesitant to get out.

With furrowed brows, is arm found a way around her shoulders. The girl was brought to his chest. "We'll stay her until it clears." He mumbled.

A softer smile appeared at her lips. The girl climbed into his lap and snuggled against his chest.

"Arigato, Sasuke-kun."

Every time he drove at night in the rain, this particular memory came to him and it made him smile slightly. They'd ended up spending the night in that position. And though he'd waken up with a crook in his neck and a numb lower half, it had softened him; to wake up with her sleeping so peacefully on him; the back of her head placed against the window while her cheek was against his chest.

Once Sasuke found a parking spot, he jumped out of his car, locked it and trudged through the rain into the hospital.

There was a lady at the front desk with auburn hair and about thirty years old. "Do you have a visitor's pass?" she asked in a monotone voice, with a bored expression on her face.

"No..." But Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks. He hadn't heard anything about a visitor's pass. Why hadn't Naruto told him?

"Well, you need one to visit people past eight PM, and frankly," she paused to glance at the clock behind her. "It's way past the cut-off time."

"My friend's wife is giving birth," Sasuke said, angrily stalking over to the woman's desk. "And I need a visitor's pass to see them?" he demanded to the woman whose name tag read "Arakai".

"I'm sorry, but I don't make the rules. You aren't the father or a family member, so you'll have to fill out these forms if you want to see them." the woman replied with a yawn and handed him a large packet.

A frustrated Sasuke rolled his eyes, snatched a pen from the desk and quickly filled out the papers as fast as he could, without mistake, since he didn't want to do it all over again.

The woman slowly looked over the files before stopping to read his name.

"You're…Uchiha Sasuke?" she asked, peering at him from behind her glasses.

Obsidian eyes narrowed at her. "Aah."

Quickly, she shoved the papers aside. "Why didn't you say so? Uzumaki-san is waiting for you in the pregnancy ward- hysterically of course. Third floor." She informed him.

Deciding to rethink the idea of strangling the woman, he grunted a response before hurrying down the hall and turning the corner; nearly running into Naruto himself.

The blond, father-to-be grabbed his friend's wrist. "COME ON SASUKE!! DAZZLE THE DOCTORS OR SOMETHING-I NEED TO KNOW IF HINATA'S OKAY!!" he yelled as they ran down the hall, to the nearest elevator.

But as they made their way down the hall, they could hear the secretary threatening him to lower his voice or he would be "escorted out".

"They still won't let you see her?" Sasuke asked as Naruto fidgeted through the entire ride.

"I don't fucking understand it! What the hell is going on? What should I do, Sasuke?" he groaned.

With a sigh, the Uchiha bopped him lightly. "Calm down, dobe." He told Naruto in irritation. Was there ever a moment where his friend WASN'T loud?

Naruto shook his head. "Something's gone wrong, I know it! Why else wouldn't they let me see her? I've just got this really bad feeling..."

"Sasuke-kun…I have a bad feeling about this…" murmured a girl who covered her bare scalp with a pink cap and nervous eyes. Arms found their way around her thin hips. Was she getting thinner?

"Have faith." He whispered to her quietly, but the viridian eyes looking back at them didn't soften.

The girl adjusted her cap awkwardly, as if to distract herself. "What faith?" she breathed as she turned to face him. "What if it's the news we don't want? What if…what if…?"

Interrupting her, the boy dipped her head down and captured her lips. "Shut up."He commanded against her lips. "Nothing will change." He declared.

Doubtful eyes looked away from him. "…Promise? Even if…I-"

"Aah." The boy whispered. His arms tightened around her thin frame when she spoke.

"But things should change, Sasuke-kun. You're better off finding someone else…someone who doesn't have as many problems as me-"

"-I'm not letting you go. "He interjected. Her body was pulled against him as his voice dropped to a whisper. "To me, there's no one else."

"…Arigato."

"Hinata will be fine. She's a fighter." Sasuke croaked, but his mind was no longer with his best friend who didn't seem to notice as he pointed to the double doors to the delivery room.

Sasuke could hear Hinata screaming in pain inside as a loud boom of thunder crackled nearly inaudibly from outside. Naruto put his hands on either side of his face. "Hinata's screaming- she's in trouble- SHIT! She hates lightning!"

Sasuke sighed for the umpteenth time that night. "She's fine. That's normal." He reassured him as he dragged his friend away from the door and tried to persuade him to sit down on the benches outside the delivery room.

But Sasuke had neglected to tell Naruto that he had absolutely no experience with women and childbirth. All the raven-haired man knew was the common variables; screaming, a long, drawn out process, and a lot of pain.

And of course, Naruto didn't sit down. He paced the floor the whole time, stopping to stare at the double doors and fidget nervously. How did he have so much energy so early?

Sure, his wife was having his child and they weren't letting him see her, but he didn't even have bags under his eyes!

Sasuke rested his head against the wall and crossed his arms as he closed his eyes. He never liked being in hospitals. They made him uncomfortable…

"Sasuke-kun…I'm scared." Murmured the girl who had her heart stolen by a boy who occupied her mind and thoughts.

"You have a 48 chance of going into remission." Reminded the boy who was oh-so in love with this girl; a sickly, day-brightening girl with no hair. "Have faith." He added again. His hand overlapped hers, which was firmly grasping a doorknob.

"Okay…" she whispered and the two opened the door together.

"Uzumaki Naruto," came a voice that brought Sasuke back out of his reverie minutes later.

Naruto's blond head snapped up and he turned to the nurse, centimeters from the woman's face. "Is Hinata ok?! Can I see her? Is the baby okay?!" He asked, the tiny bit of tranquility Sasuke had managed to obtain by calming Naruto down had gone out the window.

The woman smiled at his concern. "There were mild complications the beginning, but I do believe your baby will come out healthy. Your wife is doing fine as well. The contractions have stopped, and she's to give birth any minute now." She paused when she noticed that Naruto still appeared uneasy. "Sometimes, the birth moves more smoothly when you hold your wife's ha-"but the woman's voice trailed off when Naruto grabbed Sasuke's wrist and ran through the delivery room doors.

"Sir, we need as little people during the delivery as poss-"

"Sasuke's my best friend!" Naruto informed them as he ran to his wife's side. Hinata was huffing and puffing, and covered in sweat, but her pain-filled expression seemed to lighten when Naruto immediately appeared and grabbed hold of her hand. Sasuke stood by his side.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata gasped out and smiled a little when she saw her husband. There were two nurses beside the one that had led the two into the room and the doctor. She was going to have a quiet delivery with her husband and his best friend.

"Hinata- are you alri-ah-EYAHRGHHH!" Naruto howled as Hinata's grip immediately tightened. His face contorted in pain and Sasuke could almost hear the bones crack.

Perhaps, child birth was painful for both parents.

Sasuke he leaned against a wall with his arms crossed as he watched Hinata's face cringe in pain.

So much pain.

Was this child really worth this much pain? Did she love this unborn child so much that she would be willing to endure this long painful process?

Tears fell from those beautiful , emerald eyes.

The beautiful eyes he had fallen in love with. The captivating, questioning eyes that seemed to attempt to examine his very soul.

Those eyes that understood him, before he understood them.

"Sasuke-kun…'' Were the strangled words he heard when the white coated doctor had left and shut the door behind her. But he didn't respond. The shock that overcame the news was overwhelming.

"It's coming! I can see the head!" One of the nurses exclaimed excitedly. She looked up to Hinata's strained face. "Come on, just a few more pushes-push!"

"AH!" Hinata screamed as she pushed. Naruto was now sitting on the bed beside her, brushing her hair from her face and showing her how to breath. It looked rather funny. Who knew Naruto could be- well- mildly helpful?

A particular loud scream escaped the normally quiet girl. "I can see the eyes! Push, girl, push!" commanded the doctor while the nurses coached her.

"It hurts, Naruto-kun!" Hinata breathed out as she pushed once more.

"Sasuke, get over here!" Naruto yelled as he winced in pain. The heiress's grip was tightening.

For the first time in his life, Sasuke was unsure of himself as he came nearer to Hinata and Naruto.

"Take her other hand and let her hold it!"

Like hell he was.

"…"

"Just do it!"

Sasuke let out a breath as he made his way towards the other side of the bed, avoiding looking where the baby was to come out and took Hinata's hand.

Hinata looked up at Sasuke, grinning, even though he could tell she was exhausted. "Arigato, Sasuke-kun."

Naruto kissed her on the forehead and she blushed like always.

"H…n…" Sasuke grunted under the pain now being applied to his hand. But suddenly, he felt a thrill of excitement, which was unusual for him.

The woman whose hand he was holding, or rather, his hand was being squeezed to death by her, was about to give birth to new life. The life of his best friend's child.

Uzumaki Naruto was going to be a father.

Sasuke's arms tightened around the sobbing girl crumpled in his arms. His jaw tightened when he could feel the tears staining his shirt.

"Sasuke-kun…Sasuke-kun…" she whimpered, gripping his black shirt in anguish.

"I know." He whispered to her and rubbed her back, as if to soothe her. But he knew it was in vain. If anything, it made things worse.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry that I can't have any more faith; there's nothing to hope for anymore. The only thing to hope for is-"

"Don't say that." The boy growled. His voice was no louder than a whisper.

Tear-filled emerald eyes looked up at him in frustration. "What CAN I say then! What can I…what can I do! I don't have any options left!" she cried. "How are you still here? Knowing that I-"

"Isn't it obvious?" The boy asked in a hushed whisper. Emerald eyes blinked twice before meeting obsidian ones again. A smirk was eminent on his lips.

"What…?" she whispered back as he held her close to him.

He went on. "I don't care what you choose to do. But I'm not letting you go."

After blinking back tears, the sickly, bright-eyed girl buried her face into his shirt once more. "Sasuke-kun!" she exclaimed in a muffled voice. "…I don't deserve you."

But Sasuke was brought out of his memory when the sound of crying filled his ears.

Hinata had loosened her grip on his throbbing hand, but not before kissing it lightly, as if to kiss it better. "I'm sorry…" she apologized exhaustedly.

"It's nothing." Sasuke assured her, even though, as he moved his hand away from her, he had to crack it back into place.

Naruto couldn't stop grinning. The baby was taken away to the other side of the room to be cleaned up while the new blond daddy kissed Hinata's face.

Sasuke finally smiled, even if just a small one, in what seemed like forever as well.

A few minutes later, the baby was returned to the parents; all cleaned up and wrapped in a soft, pink blanket. "Congratulations, Uzumaki Naruto-san, Hinata-sama. You're the new parents of a beautiful baby girl!" exclaimed the nurse as she planted his daughter into his arms.

His cerulean eyes seemed to gloss over before he grinned at Sasuke. "She's so tiny…Look, look teme! This is MY daughter! Mine!! You're an uncle now!"

Even though Sasuke knew that Naruto didn't have a blood related brother, nor parents to share his news with, he was the closest thing to a brother the blond man would have.

But Sasuke didn't care. He no longer had any family members either.

"Aah, dobe." Sasuke acknowledged with a smirk. "I know."

When Naruto settled his daughter in his arms, the baby immediately stopped crying and stared into her father's eyes with wide, blue-violet eyes.

That's when the baby reached out to touch her daddy's face.

A Cheshire cat grin spread across Naruto's face before he lifted his baby up. "YATTA!! SHE SMILED AT ME! SHE SMILED!!"

He took his child and hurried out of the room, much to Hinata's disapproval, and showed her off to everyone in the hospital, yelling, "This is my baby girl! And she has my eyes!"

Finally, Naruto returned to the room.

"I'm your daddy, and that's your mommy," Naruto showed the baby to Hinata, then stood up and came over to Sasuke. "And this is your uncle. He's can be a real bas-"

"Naruto-kun!"

"-er…jerk, but he's a good guy! …Sometimes!" he grinned.

"Naruto-kun, can I hold her?" Hinata asked quietly. Sasuke nodded towards Hinata, but Naruto didn't comply and plopped the baby into Sasuke's arms.

As Sasuke stared at the newborn child, into her blue-violet eyes. She really was tiny…

"I wish Sakura-chan was here. I think she'd be proud of you, Sasuke." Naruto commented with a light smile.

Sasuke frowned at the mention of her name. "Aah-"but his voice trailed off when he noticed a familiar sparkle in the baby's right eye; a glint of a curious emerald. The emerald that belonged to only one woman in Konoha.

The curious emerald that belonged to the late Haruno Sakura.

"Haruno-san, Uchiha-san, have you decided what you plan to do?" the doctor asked, upon returning.

Emerald eyes shielded themselves from the world for a few seconds. A deep breath was sucked in before an answer was spoken.

"We have." She murmured to her. Her hand gently tightened around the boy's beside her. "I've decided not to go through with the treatment." She declared.

Coal eyes looked at her wildly, but the doctor's caramel brown ones remained professional. "You do realize that without the treatment you have no hope of recovery, right? Not even the slightest chance."

But with a smile, the girl nodded. "Aah, but," she paused to steal a glance at the boy next to her. "I'm not afraid of dying anymore. That's why I'm going to spend the rest of my life living it to the fullest!"

Obsidian eyes melted in the girl's direction. "Sakura…" he murmured, when she turned to wink at him.

Her mouth told them that she was "living her life to its fullest."

But her eyes told him…

That she was living it for him.

That's when the doctor smiled.

"What are we going to name her, Hinata?" Naruto asked as he sat down on the bed beside his wife.

"I-I was thinking something like..."

"Kokumei." Sasuke declared. "Uzumaki Kokumei."

"Kokumei…Faithfulness…"

"I like it! Ah-hey! Sasuke's actually smiling!" Naruto exclaimed.

And indeed he was. He had known for months that Sakura's death was tearing him apart; working himself dry to distract his thoughts. So he had deliberately planned to have him as the only one supporting him while Hinata was in labor.

This was the first time in a long time that Uchiha Sasuke even attempted to smile, let alone pulling it off.

Coal eyes looked up at his married friends with a new gleam in his eyes as well. The past and his aching heart no longer seemed to throb painfully anymore. Nor did the nagging thought in his mind that told him to leave; for he had work in a few hours.

It was a gleam of hope…a gleam of faith…

At that moment, he decided he would call off work- better yet, quit. It was a waste of time. Instead, he would spend his time creating a memorial for Sakura.

That and, helping with the newest addition to the Uzumaki family.

"Y'know Sasuke, if you'd smile more I think the girls will start hitting on you more. But then again there's always that Karin chick." Naruto joked as he finally gave Hinata their child. . "She kinda looks like Sakura-chan-even though she's kinda weird."

But Sasuke shook his head.

"Awe…why not, teme!" The blond frowned.

He was hoping to help his friend move on, finally. But Sasuke only smirked. "Isn't it obvious?" he asked before stuffing his pockets and walking out the room.

"I know you're watching over me now."

"Ah- hey! Teme! What do you mean? Teme!!"

No other woman mattered.

"From wherever you are."

In fact, they would never matter.

"So know remember this…"

Because no one would EVER replace his very first true love.

"I said I'd never let you go, and I won't. Not now. Not ever,

…Haruno Sakura."

Astrocam: Co-writing with Asuka has been fun, as well as a challenge. We might be thinking of a sequel, although it would be mostly her writing it and me coming up with the chapter ideas. I guess we'll see.

Thanks for reading!