Author's Note: Wow. I finally finished it. Hell, I actually finished a story! Which is actually quite rare on my part. I haven't actually completed a story since Grade 6 so I'm feeling rather proud of myself right now. :) Anyway, so sorry that you out there who had to wait such a long time for the grande finale but it's here now! I'm not gonna spend too much time chatting cuz I'm not sure people read this anyway and I'm sure the story is the only thing that matters. So! The only thing I'm iffy about with this epilogue of mine, is the fluff. See, I'm such an amateur when it comes to writing romance. Seriously, it's not even funny. So I hope that I at least pulled off something decent for someone to enjoy. And on that note, read on! And thank you for reading!

Dedication: Goes out to my 'club' (which, I did make a banner for! You can find the link to it on my profile page). But a special dedication goes to Sakura's Indecision for not only reviewing every chapter but for inspiring me each and every time she reviewed. So great was her inspiration that I named a chapter after her (that was number 5: Sakura's Decision). So here's to you Sakura's Indecision! Thank you for being my Inspiration! C:

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing really. Except for any original characters. Which include more than I thought. O.o

Chapter Seven: The Perfect Conclusion

Name: Sasuke (Chi) Uchiha

Sasuke would tell you that it was almost freaky how easily the three of them fell back into routine after their return.

As they had leaned on each other, ever-so-slowly limping towards their village gates, they were spotted by the guards who had wasted no time in alerting Tsunade of their appearance. With the utmost care, they were escorted to the hospital and received immediate medical attention, despite the lack of worrisome injuries. As soon as Shizune was satisfied with their state of health, Tsunade had marched up to the team and demanded a report on the mission's happenings. Luckily, they had anticipated Tsunade's curiosity and – wishing to keep the story of Haruchi Maki only between them – had come up with a sufficient cover-story for Sakura's disappearance as well as Sasuke and Naruto's over-due absence. Tsunade had been unsatisfied with their answers to her interrogations but knew by the look on their faces that she wasn't going to smuggle the truth from any of them. Whatever had happened to them during the past few weeks was obviously not hers to know.

The next day, they had been released from the hospital, after which Tsunade had given them a full week of respite to rest, relax, and train. They immediately headed for Ichiraku's ramen stand for a long-awaited lunch of noodles, banters, and casual chat. They had gotten their blood pumping after that with a long-over-due training session and it had never felt so good to be bruised, sweaty, and exhausted.

"Hold on a minute." Naruto started. Team 7 was currently enjoying their weekly get-together-lunch of Ichiraku ramen. The only thing wrong with the picture perfect scene was the fact that Naruto was talking without noodles in his mouth. This fact was enough for Sasuke and Sakura to really pay attention to what their friend was saying.

"Haruchi said that you guys had been 'exploring' before you avoided each other like the plague; what'd she mean by that?"

Sakura flushed a little and fiddled with her chopsticks while Sasuke grunted before turning back to his lunch.

"Aw, come on guys!" Naruto whined, "It's not fair if you leave me out of it!"

"There's nothing to let you in on." Sasuke retorted. 'Nothing yet anyway.' He thought while glancing Sakura's way.

"Psh, yeah, okay." Naruto grumbled as he played with his ramen noodles. He was clearly unsatisfied.

"Really, Naruto, there's nothing for us to tell. You're making a big deal out of absolutely nothing." Sakura tried to calm the agitated blonde. Sasuke eyed Sakura curiously. She seriously thought that what they did was nothing?

"Humph." Naruto pouted as he crossed his arms. "I'm not stupid, Sakura. I know that something had to have happened."

"Yeah, well, nothing did."

"Oh, so you two just decided to have a mutual freak-out and never see each other again?"

"No," Sakura hissed, praying for patience and hoping that Naruto would just drop the subject, "we just had a disagreement Naruto. But we're over it now so there's nothing for you to worry about."

Sasuke raised a brow. They were over it? They hadn't even mentioned it ever since it happened. Whatever they had done with it, the issue wasn't 'gotten over'; it was just lying unresolved; an elephant in the room that they refused to acknowledge, or at least Sakura refused to. Since Haruchi, Sasuke noticed that Sakura hadn't really been keen to talk about anything much. Not anything in the past anyway. She was more than happy to have her boys back and to talk about recent missions, or lecture them about their current health, or share funny stories of yesterday but she was reluctant to talk about the mission to the Land of Snow.

"You sure about that Sakura?" Naruto pushed.

"Yes, Naruto. I'm sure." Sakura seethed. "Just drop it."

"Okay, okay. I don't know why you're so uptight about it Sakura. I'm just making sure that you guys aren't gonna break up again cause -"

Slamming her hands on the counter and standing from her stool, Sakura shouted, "I told you to drop it!!"

Naruto was silenced and Sasuke no longer tried to hide his curious gaze. Both males openly stared at the pinkette as she huffed out a breath, lay down a few bills, and stormed out of the stand.

Looking at each other, Naruto asked, "Do you wanna go after her or should I?"

Sasuke sighed. He supposed that if he wanted to straighten things out, he would have to approach Sakura himself. Besides, her mood swings – and the tension that fell between them whenever they were alone – were getting annoying.

Scooting out of his stool, Sasuke replied, "I'll go. But finish my ramen for me will you?" He didn't want the dobe interrupting any type of resolution that he could reach with Sakura. Ramen would probably be the best distraction for the blonde.

"No problem. Just don't make things worse."

"Hn."

Walking in the direction Sakura had headed off in, Sasuke couldn't keep the smirk off his face when he distantly heard, "Hey! Teme didn't pay his way!"

Current Status: Wanting Happiness

Name: Sakura (Haru) Haruno

"Frickin… and the very nerve of him… asking stupid questions… gonna kill him one day…" were only some of the words that passersby were able to make out of Sakura Haruno's grumblings. They never stayed long enough to hear more; the pinkette appeared to be in a most foul mood.

Sakura had made herself a comfortable seat on the stone bench nearest the Konoha gates. While the scenery didn't provide too many happy memories, it was the perfect spot for her to perch, grumble and complain. It was a quiet area, with the natural sounds of a few people passing by here and there; and the upsetting memories only allowed Sakura to wallow in her anger. Here, she could stay frustrated and vent for as long as she wished, without any happy thoughts to disturb her. And after Naruto's annoying prodding, she definitely did not want to be disturbed. Especially not by her tea-

"There's no reason to be so upset."

Damn it. Of course he would seek her out now.

"It's irrational. Nothing's changed because of it."

"Really?" she snapped, "Because for a while, everything seemed to change."

Sasuke kept silent after that. Looking up at him suspiciously, Sakura rolled her eyes and shifted to make room for him on the bench. Wordlessly, he sat down and rested his elbows on his knees; she proceeded to cross her arms and slouch back to look at the sky.

'Funny,' she thought, 'I can see birds flying overhead but I haven't been hearing them chirp… not for the longest time…' Flashing back, Sakura recalled that Haruchi had said something about Team 7's relationship affecting the song of birds. But why weren't they singing now?

"You can't ignore me forever, Sakura."

Being snapped back to the current situation, Sakura scoffed and replied, "Sure I can."

"You tried it once already and it didn't work."

"For three months, it did." She argued.

"Three months isn't forever, Sakura."

"Well what the hell do you want me to do?" she questioned while looking at him. She was startled for a moment to see that he had been staring at her the entire time.

"Talk."

Sakura glared. "That's it?"

Sasuke sighed at put a hand to his hair. "Unless talking doesn't solve it."

"So now kissing me is a problem that you need to solve?"

"You know that's not what I meant." Sakura shrunk into herself. She knew. But she just wanted to be angry right now; why couldn't Sasuke see that?

"Listen Sakura, those three months of avoidance were bad enough but I'm tired of putting up with the tense air between us. Every time you talk to me, you treat it as if you're treading on eggshells and I've had enough of it; so whatever we need to do to… clear the air, we're going to figure it out right now."

Sakura stayed quiet for a while longer. She had stared aimlessly ahead throughout Sasuke's speech and now she was reflecting on it. He admitted that those three months had been hell, and she had to agree with him. It had been hard getting through those days with the sudden absence of her greatest friends and she never wanted to live through that experience again. But kissing Sasuke… it wasn't something that she could just cast aside, could just forget about. And that was what he wanted wasn't it? To forget that it had ever happened in the first place? Sakura rubbed her arms as if she were cold; she would never forget… no matter how long or how much they talked about it.

"…You're right." She still wouldn't look at him. Sasuke used that to his advantage. "I'm… I'm tired of the tension too. I've just been… I've been too busy being angry…"

"What about?" Still wasn't looking…

"You really need to ask that?"

"Tell me anyway."

"…" Sakura took a breath, faced toward Sasuke only to gasp at the feeling of his lips on hers again. For a moment, Sakura felt her widened eyes start to close and her body start to relax into his simple embrace. But then she startled herself back into reality.

Pulling away from Sasuke and jumping off the bench, she looked at him fearfully with a hand to her lips and tears in her eyes. And then she turned around and briskly walked towards her home. Sasuke cursed and followed her.

"Sakura!" he called. She responded by quickening her pace. He mimicked her. But then she started running.

"Damn it, Sakura! Stop running away from me!"

But she wouldn't stop; she couldn't stop. Tears were falling down her face and she kept her mouth covered at all costs while her tired legs fed off of the adrenaline pumping through her. Green eyes open and watching for any obstacles, Sakura couldn't hear any noise over her own thoughts.

'No, no, no, no, no.'

"Sakura!"

'Absolutely not.'

"Damn it, Sakura!"

'There's just no way.'

"Stop running away from me!"

'I have to. I'll go insane if I stop.'

"It didn't mean anything Sakura."

'He said it didn't matter. He said he didn't care!'

"It was to distract you."

'He never wanted to! I never wanted to! Not like this!'

"Sakura!!" She heard him bellow. He was still behind her, still chasing her. Why the hell was he chasing her? Almost crying with relief, Sakura realized that she was in front of her apartment building. Making haste, she wasted no time in running up to her floor; she needed the sanctuary of her home right now. Fumbling with her key, Sakura panicked but managed to slam the door before Sasuke could follow her through. Bolting the door, Sakura leaned against the barrier between her and him, letting it support her exhausted form, and listened to Sasuke curse and hit the door. Running her chakra through it, she made sure that Sasuke would never open it by force.

Once silence was all she heard from the other side, Sakura breathed in relief before muscular arms trapped her to an equally muscular body. Screaming and thrashing around, Sakura felt a breeze from her now-open window and cursed herself for forgetting about it.

"Damn it, Sakura, calm down!" She could only screech again in response. She was not in a stable state of mind. She was vaguely aware that Sasuke trapped her arms with his own and was sitting down against the door to trap her legs with his as well. Knowing she was caught, Sakura could only let go and sobbed into his shoulder as he tried to soothe her. After her body had collapsed limply, he felt it safe to stroke her hair and whisper assurances in her ear. She only cried and clung to him like a lifeline.

Some time later, when the sun was dyeing the sky in colours of orange and red, Sakura was left tearless, staring straight ahead with blank and empty eyes. Sasuke had long ago buried his face in her hair and was trying to instill feelings of peace and calm in her through osmosis. It had appeared to help when he had first rested his head to hers, and he was grateful she was calming down. He hadn't moved since.

"Why did you chase me?"

She felt him shift his face to look in her eyes but she made no movement to meet his gaze. She had gone from angry to ashamed to panic in a short time and was drained of most energy. Sasuke too, she felt, was emotionally exhausted with keeping up with her and then calming her.

"Why didn't you just let me go?"

Nuzzling back into her hair, Sasuke replied, "Because I let you go once before and it didn't end well."

"Chasing me hasn't ended well either."

"Actually, it turned out better than I expected."

"Must be your lucky day."

A small silence overtook the pair. Sakura kept her empty gaze on her wall as she watched it turn from red to black. The sun had set, and still Sakura had yet to hear a bird chirp.

Sasuke broke the silence. "I know what I want, Sakura," he breathed deeply into her hair before speaking again, "I want you."

She didn't respond. So he retreated from her hair to kiss her forehead. "I want to be with you." He kissed her cheek. "I want to see you smile again." He kissed her jaw. "I want there to be an 'us'." Hesitantly, he kissed her lips briefly. Sakura frowned and closed her eyes to resurfacing tears. So he kissed her eyelids too. "I want you to want to be with me."

Finally, Sakura shifted in his arms to look up at him. Her cheeks were wet with fresh tears and the light of the moon made them sparkle and Sasuke couldn't help but feel cheated. He had always read that beautiful girls were always beautiful whether they were crying or smiling. But Sakura, – looking up at him with forlorn green eyes, rivers down her face and mucus running from her nose – she looked repulsive. Sasuke swore then and there to always do his best to keep her smiling – to keep her beautiful – because he wasn't sure if his heartstrings could take any more pain from seeing her look so pitiful.

Cut out from his thoughts when a hand cupped his cheek, Sasuke refocused his attention on the woman in his arms. She was smiling and suddenly, she was beautiful.

"I've always wanted that." Smiling back at her, Sasuke dipped his head down to kiss her again and this time, she kissed back.

The next morning, when Sakura would stretch out under her bed sheets, she would discover Sasuke's arms still around her and she would smile as her heart sang in tune with the chirping birds outside her window.

Current Status: Obtaining Happiness

16 Months Later

Name: Naruto (Maki) Uzumaki

Naruto should have known that kissing Hinata on their date would lead to making out under the stars. He should have known that Sakura would pick a time when he was making out with Hinata to go into labour. And he definitely should have known that she would send Ino to fetch him for the birth of the first Uchiha since Sasuke. And yet…

"Naruto Uzumaki! Stop sucking face with Hinata and get your butt over to the hospital! Your godchild is being born!"

Hinata had been embarrassed to get caught by a friend but Naruto was too excited to give her time to fight off her blush. Letting out a whoop, Naruto pulled Hinata with him as he followed Ino to the hospital.

It had been about ten months since his teammates had said the 'I do's and life could not have been better. Just like before they had separated, everyone noticed things: birds were singing more beautifully than ever before, there seemed to be an abundance of good weather, mission success rates rose, and every person in the village just seemed to be in a good mood almost every day. Naruto had been positive that it was the work of Haruchi. Of course, when Sakura and Sasuke had approached him to tell him that they were officially going steady, Naruto had felt like a third wheel at times when the three of them would get together. It was then that Naruto turned to Hinata for company and, after hanging out with her for a few weeks, asked her out once or twice. Naruto was extremely pleased with the results and had asked Hinata to go steady only recently. He had been elated when she said yes although, not completely surprised. For reasons he couldn't completely fathom, once he started hanging out with her, he realized she pretty smitten with him.

"Hurry up, you dumb blonde!" Ino called out to him. Naruto only realized now that they were inside the hospital and Ino was racing up the stairs, looking at him to follow.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" he called back and picked up his pace again, Hinata still running behind him.

Once on the fourth floor, Naruto bypassed Ino and zeroed in on the two chakra signatures that he could trace in his sleep. Calling a quick "Stay out here with Hinata!" to Ino, Naruto burst through a door to reveal his two teammates and exclaimed, "I'm here! I'm here! Did I miss anything? Am I too late? Is it a boy or a girl? What happened?"

Rolling her eyes affectionately, Sakura motioned for him to come closer while reassuring him, "No, Naruto you haven't missed a thing!"

"Well good. Because I put 'Making-Out-With-Hinata-Time' on hold for this." He said while moving to Sakura's bedside.

"You wanted to be here, dobe."

"Yeah, and you wanted me here too! So shut up, teme!"

Sakura gave a sharp wince. Whether it was from Naruto's booming voice or another contraction, Sasuke couldn't tell. "Naruto, Sasuke, I am about to have a baby here. Could you two find a different time to argue?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly and Sasuke ran his thumb across her knuckles of the hand he was holding. Smiling at them both, Sakura jumped up from lying on the bed and let out a gasp of pain. Both men were immediately holding her shoulders and asking if she was alright.

Gasping and trying very hard to concentrate on breathing, Sakura replied, "I'm fine… It was just another contraction; it's a good thing – ah!" She gasped again and shut her eyes to the pain. "Sorry boys. This is gonna be painful to watch."

A few hours later

"I don't think I believe it." Naruto said.

"I know…" Sakura agreed.

"…" Sasuke was too surprised to say anything about the tiny bundle wrapped in his wife's arms.

"Uh… I'm not the only one who sees this right?" The blonde asked while pointing at the green tuft of hair atop the bundle's head.

Sakura nodded in confirmation. "No, I see it too Naruto."

"The eyes too?"

Staring into coal black eyes in amazement, Sakura only nodded again.

"So, you think she had something to do with it?" Naruto asked while looking for Sasuke's opinion.

Sasuke was still a bit too surprised to say anything more than, "Don't look at me, dobe."

"I was just asking!" Naruto defended.

"Oh, give it a rest Naruto." Sakura gazed lovingly at the person who would become another precious someone to her. She could hardly believe it. A daughter. Sakura Uchiha had given birth to a healthy, beautiful, wonderful daughter. Holding her child close to her, Sakura let a tear slip and continued, "Either way, she's a miracle."

Silently accepting this as an answer, Naruto looked at the little baby again. He couldn't believe that they hadn't known. How had this little treasure been growing for nine full months without any of them realizing that she… Naruto shook his head with a grin on his face. Sakura had worded it wonderfully; this little girl was, if nothing else, a miracle.

Current Status: Sharing Happiness

7 Years Later

Name: I bet you can guess…

"Gotcha!" the girl cried out as she pounced. Successfully capturing her raven-haired target, the girl quickly recovered from her fall and ran off in the opposite direction.

"Hey, get back here sis!" called the small, six-year old boy.

Not daring to slow her pace but unable to resist a taunt, the boy's older sister looked back and stuck out her tongue.

"Can't catch me if you're slow, Masa!"

"I told you to stop calling me that!"

"Masa can't catch me! Masa can't catch me!" the girl sang.

"Can't he?" a new voice asked. Startled, the girl squealed in surprise as two strong hands picked her up off the grass of the family's backyard.

"Daaaad!" she complained. "That's not fair! Let me go! Masa's gonna catch up!"

"Too late!" and suddenly, Sasuke Uchiha had both his young children in his arms, one laughing with triumph, the other complaining loudly that she had been cheated. Sasuke couldn't help the smile that adorned his face. It amazed him how easy it was to love his children.

Now fed up with her brother and father, Sasuke's eldest child began to struggle and squirm, trying to escape the hold he had on her. Laughing now, Sasuke tightened his grip and – following the lead of his son – poked at her ticklish sides, making her escape a very difficult task. But his daughter wasn't one to give up and so, struggling and squealing, she brought out her greatest weapon:

"Mooom!! Dad and Masaru are ganging up on mee!!"

"Is that so?" Sakura asked from her seat on the mini porch. In her arms lay a third child, fast asleep with a tuft of pink hair atop her little head. Sakura took a small amount of pride in the fact that, while Sasuke may be the favourite of the other two, precious little Kona Mikoto Uchiha always seemed to favour her mother.

"Hey!" her brother complained as he ceased his tickling assault, "You can't call in Mom to help you!"

"Can too! You got help from Dad!" the girl yelled back.

"But I didn't ask him to!"

"Doesn't matter, you still cheated!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too, cheater!"

"I am not a cheater!"

Rolling his eyes amusedly, Sasuke set the children down saying, "Alright, settle down you two."

Sakura laughed when they turned in sync and gazed up at Sasuke with their biggest puppy eyes and cried, "But Dad!!" It was obvious that they were both attempting to get their father on their side.

A little hand reaching for Sakura's hair captured her attention and she looked down into her arms to see a pair beautiful black eyes. Sakura almost sighed in disappointment. All of their children had inherited Sasuke's eyes. It was obvious that black was the dominant gene. Although, Kona did manage to receive her mother's hair… Maybe there was hope for Sakura's recessive genes yet.

Growing bored with Sakura's hair, Kona started to look around elsewhere for entertainment. Seeing that the year old infant was starting to become a little restless, Sakura called her other children over.

Quickly forgetting their argument to obey their mother, both kids ran up to the porch and asked, "What is it Mommy?"

Smiling, Sakura asked, "Could you please run up to Kona's room and grab some of her toys? I think she wants to play now."

Nodding eagerly, both kids took off their shoes before entering the house. Of course, Masaru then declared, "Race ya!" and took off without giving his sister another warning. The young girl of seven sprinted after him, calling him a cheater once again.

Shaking her head at her energetic children, Sakura couldn't help but remember the flashback that Haruchi had shown them those many years ago, and the adventures that she and Sasuke had embarked upon in their early childhoods. She wondered what sort of adventures her own children would take…

"What are you thinking?" In her musing Sakura hadn't noticed that Sasuke had made his way to sit with her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head on her shoulder.

Humming in contentment, Sakura leaned back into his embrace and closed her eyes. "Just how similar we were when we were that age."

"Want to know what I'm thinking?" he murmured, brushing his lips along her neck.

Smiling, Sakura teased, "That you're holding the most perfect woman in the universe?"

Laughing, Sasuke pressed a firm kiss to her pulse. "That, and I still think it's a boy." He confessed while gently rubbing his wife's pregnant bump. She was six months along already. Sakura didn't honestly care which gender it was but she did secretly hope that their fourth child would inherit her eyes. As beautiful as her family's eyes were, she got tired of seeing green only in the mirror.

"What makes you think it's a boy again?" She always liked to hear what he had to say, especially since he had predicted correctly on their past three kids.

"Nothing except pure and honest hope. I don't think I could handle another girl."

"What's wrong with the two we already have?" Sakura asked, becoming slightly defensive.

"They both drive me crazy."

"And Masaru doesn't?"

"Masaru's different."

"Because he's your son." She scoffed.

"Because he's my only son." He corrected.

"And you'd like another one." She drawled.

"Or two." Smirking, Sasuke moved his mouth to her ear and whispered, "Or three if you're up to it."

"Sasuke Uchiha!" Laughing, Sasuke was sure he would have been smacked if Sakura hadn't had her hands full with Kona.

Luckily, their kids had picked that moment to descend the stairs with their arms full of toys and stuffed animals. "We're back!"

Sasuke immediately engaged them in a game with Kona and the happy family spent the rest of the afternoon there on the porch.

Later On…

"Say you're sorry to your sister."

"No."

"Masaru."

"No!"

"Masaru Yosou Uchiha."

"Ah-ha-ha! Masa got middle-named!"

"Haruchi Maki Uchiha."

"Sorry, Mom."

Current Status: Living in Happiness

The End