AN: Please note, the story is over just before the six month time skip, but I am adding the next part on because it makes me happy. Hope you enjoy the addition too.

Chapter 25: Out of the Darkness

Sasuke stared up at the sky, the dew forming on the grass all around him. Team Seven's old training ground was like a sanctuary to him. It was the time he had been happiest in his life since his family was gone and he wished he could have those days back. All he had now were memories.

Sensing Naruto nearing him, Sasuke just lay there, and waited until Naruto bent down and looked at him.

"What are you doing out here?" Naruto asked, his cloak swaying in the wind around him.

Sasuke stared up at Naruto's wide blue eyes and shrugged.

"Well, since your already here," Naruto said.

Sasuke almost didn't dodge the monster punch Naruto threw at him. Now several meters away from him and on his feet, Sasuke glared at him and immediately activated his sharingan. He had learned long ago he couldn't take Naruto lightly anymore.

"You wanna spar huh?" Sasuke said.

Naruto smirked. "Yeah."

It wasn't long before Naruto had Sasuke pinned to the ground, a kunai to his throat, and Sasuke's sword of kusanagi piercing the ground several meters away, but Sasuke only smirked.

"You just got lucky," he said.

Naruto let go of him and got up, seeing the blood on Sasuke's face for the first time. He didn't think he had caught him that time and the image unsettled him. It reminded him of when they had fought for real so many years before, when he thought he was really losing Sasuke.

Naruto turned to leave, mentioning something about having to tuck his kids in, but Sasuke's demanding voice stopped him.

"Naruto."

Turning back, Naruto saw how deep in thought he was and felt he knew what he was going to say.

"If Sakura doesn't come back soon, I can't stay here."

Naruto closed his eyes and turned away. "I know."

# # #

As Sasuke walked home that night, he wondered if he even wanted to go. Every impulse in his body was telling him to go back to that village to where he had found Sakura's cottage and beg her to stay with him, do whatever he had to do to convince her. Even as much as he wanted to though, he wondered if it was best. Was his son better off away from the politics of being one of the last Uchiha? Was Sakura better off without him? Were both of them better off without ties to his name? Pausing in the middle of the empty street, Sasuke gritted his teeth, trying to understand what he was supposed to do.

If he left Konoha, at least maybe he would be able to change course, leave what was familiar and put her from his mind. Physical pain crept into his arms, like he was supposed to stop himself at the thought. No, it didn't matter where he was, he would always miss her, but it would still be better than being forced to remarry. If the village thought he would ever agree to that, they were sorely mistaken.

Realizing he had no reason to stay there, Sasuke turned back and looked in the direction out of the village. He just needed a few things. Naruto would understand.

They both knew Sakura wasn't coming back.

When Sasuke returned, all of the lights were out and the house was completely dark. As he moved through the house to the stairs, he realized how clean everything looked, as if someone had just detailed all the rooms and he realized one of the maids must have been there despite him telling them to keep out. Irritated, Sasuke went to the upper floor and traversed the dark corridor with his eyes closed. He wouldn't be long, he just needed to grab a pack. Then he would put this behind him. Sasuke's brow furrowed and he clenched his eyes shut in pain.

Gripping the door handle, Sasuke was about to pull it open when he heard something down the hall. Glancing behind him, he sensed something was off. Letting go of the handle he moved down the hall to the room he heard the noise. The corridor seemed to stretch for miles before him, shadows swallowing him as he noticed the faint light at the end of the hall.

Sasuke felt like he was fighting against some unseen force, like the shadows had clawed arms pulling at him trying to keep him from reaching the light. His chest hurt and his body weighed him down, but he knew there was something important about this light.

And as he moved, Sasuke felt something give. As his hand fell gently against the door, Sasuke breathed in deep heavy breaths. The light shone out from the cracks of the door and faintly through the screen. Nothing was holding him back anymore, his chest didn't hurt and he felt hot tears burn his eyes.

Then the tracks sounded as the door was slid open.

Illuminated by the light within the room, Sakura stood in the doorway, her eyes wide as they rested on Sasuke.

And as she pulled him towards her, into the light, into the room she occupied, into her arms and back into her life, Sasuke willingly let the tears fall down his cheek. As he held onto her, his back to the empty hallway of stretching shadows, Sasuke stared at the crib in the room blankly and realized they were in the room he and Sakura had decided to use as a nursery when they designed the house.

Feeling Sakura pull away from him, Sasuke resisted, but she was stronger than him and forced him to let go, but she wasn't pushing him away, she was pulling him further into the room. Finally understanding, Sasuke heard the noise again, and realized it was a child, and he was laughing.

Suddenly, something moved and Sasuke flinched back into place, the child having stood up in the crib and peeked over the edge. Sasuke could do nothing but stare at the little Uchiha for several minutes

Sakura watched him with great curiosity. She would have never expected to see Sasuke in such a state. It was once an idle dream of hers when they were married that he would be so taken by their child, but it had always been something she brushed away as impossible. She wondered if it was losing that child that made him like this now.

"You can hold him you know."

Seeing Sasuke's nervous expression, Sakura moved over to the crib beside him and picked Hikaru up. Sasuke couldn't take his eyes off of them as Sakura handed their son to him. Realizing then that Sakura was really handing Hikaru to him, Sasuke awkwardly took him.

Sakura smiled at the sight and forced Sasuke to hold him correctly, letting his head rest against his chest.

"He looks just like you," Sakura said.

Sasuke stared at him before looking back up at Sakura.

"Is this… for good?" Sasuke whispered, scared he was going to realize it was all just part of his imagination at any moment.

Stunned by his tone, Sakura kept her eyes on her son now sleeping in Sasuke's arms.

"I want it to be."

Sasuke pulled at Sakura's waist, her head resting against his chest by Hikaru's and held her there as tightly as he could.

"I won't ever let you go again, Sakura," Sasuke said by her ear. "Or Hikaru."

# # #

When Sakura returned home that night after seeing Naruto and Ino, Sakura found Sasuke asleep on his bed with Hikaru resting against his chest, snuggled tightly, sleeping as well. She was so emotionally impacted, she felt tears falling immediately at how beautiful he looked holding his son so effortlessly like he had been waiting for this moment all his life. Guilt suddenly collapsed around her and she couldn't understand why she had taken this away from Sasuke. Her tears crashing to the ground made Sasuke open his eyes and the warm tender look he gave her made all of her pain vanish.

"Come to bed, Sakura," he whispered.

Smiling, Sakura nodded, and curled up against his side, letting her mind and soul finally find peace with Sasuke.

She slept easier than she had in years.

~-Six months later~

Sakura smiled as she watched Hikaru run off to play with Naruto and Hinata's children. She was about to protest so she could give him a hug, but she refrained, seeing how happy he was.

"Thanks again, Hinata," Sakura called after her.

"Oh, no problem Sakura, the kids loving having him around," she said.

Sakura watched as Naruto's little blond son glared at Hikaru and laughed. "They'll be just like Naruto and Sasuke."

Hinata laughed hesitantly and said, "I sure hope not."

"Yeah, that's going to be a pain," Sakura said. "We'll be back in a few days hopefully."

Hinata smiled as Sakura left and went to meet Naruto and Sasuke at his office. An important mission had come up that couldn't be botched, and for the first time since being back, Naruto had asked her to go. What she hadn't realized was that it would be her, Naruto and Sasuke going the mission. She couldn't help but feel shocked that team seven would be going out, and that Naruto felt the mission so important that he was going personally.

"Why won't you tell us what the mission actually is, Naruto?" Sasuke asked, glowering at him.

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed as she realized he was right and they hadn't been briefed about what was actually going on, just that it was a rescue operation.

Naruto sighed. "Just trust me, alright? I can't tell you."

Surprised at how serious Naruto was being, Sakura grabbed Sasuke's arm to calm him, knowing he didn't have the patience for such things. Holding his tongue, Sasuke nodded.

The mission took them the entire week. They were sneaking into the unstable Mist Village where the politics got shady when the sixth Mizukage was killed in the war. Relations with the leaf were shaky at best and Naruto knew any kind of negotiations with them would end badly, so he insisted on going himself to find out if what he had heard was true or not. Taking Sasuke and Sakura along was just an added precaution that they didn't get caught.

When Naruto reached the high security prison cells, he disabled the guard and motioned for Sasuke and Sakura to go inside.

"What are we doing here, Naruto?" Sakura whispered, finally glaring at him like Sasuke was.

"Find cell 219," he said, "and when you do, flare your chakra just enough so we know you found it."

The three of them split off. They were at the top of a several story building with the cells wrapping the outer wall which were in the thousands. Immediately jumping down the stairwell at the center of the building, Sasuke free fell for several seconds before catching one of the bars and finding he had descended to a sub level. He was so irritated Naruto still wasn't telling them what was going on that he was determined to get to that cell first to see who the hell they were rescuing.

Realizing he had somehow stopped at the right floor, Sasuke realized he needed to cross to the other side of the building. Sprinting back the reinforced doors and taking down several guards as he went, Sasuke disabled several alarms on the way before he slid to a halt outside of cell 219.

Breaking the jutsus on the door, Sasuke lifted the heavy handle and pulled, causing the rickety hinges to cringe and cry as he forced the heavy piece of metal open.

On first glance, there was no one in the room, but it was filled with shadows from the light he let in from the dim corridor. Stepping inside, Sasuke noticed a boy huddled in the corner, staring at him. The door swung open further and suddenly light was shining on his face and Sasuke went ghostly pale.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked, his voice shaking.

The boy stood up and looked at Sasuke hard, his dark eyes narrowing.

"Why do you look like me?" he asked.

Sasuke froze. He even sounded just like him. Before he could respond, Naruto and Sakura were behind him, panting.

"Sasuke," Naruto said.

He turned to stare back at him, demanding an explanation with his eyes.

"I was scared," Naruto said, "that they might have killed him already."

Sasuke's heart dropped into his stomach. "So this is… Itachi's son?"

Naruto nodded. "That's the only explanation I came up with. I have a surveillance unit here, and they told me when he showed unusual genjutsu capabilities at the orphanage he was in, they locked him up. His mother apparently died in child birth and he's been alone."

"Who are you?" the boy shouted.

Sasuke watched as the boy pressed his back against the wall. "How do you know all that?"

"Calm down, we're going to get you out of here," Naruto said, moving forward a bit, but the boy seemed to panic and Sasuke felt his jaw slack as his eyes bled red.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried, and Sasuke saw Naruto fall to his knees.

Engaging his sharingan, Sasuke released Naruto from the genjutsu and looked back at the kid who was staring at him with a partially complete sharingan. He looked so much like Itachi Sasuke couldn't get a grip on the situation, but before he caused anymore damage, he knocked him out and grabbed him, motioning for Sakura to do the same with Naruto.

They were gone before the alerted guards even encountered them.

# # #

"Will he be alright?" Sasuke asked the nurse tending to him, staring at the boy, unconscious in his hospital bed.

Sakura's hand gripped his arm, but he felt like everything was spinning.

"He is extremely malnourished and it looks like he was beaten often. He hasn't had it easy, that's for sure, but I think physically he will be fine. Are you going to be looking after him?" the nurse asked.

Sasuke stared at the kid. He couldn't seem to not see Itachi and it was causing flashbacks.

"We will be," Sakura said, smiling at the nurse and ushering her from the room. "I'm going to be looking after him now that I am fully recovered. Thank you."

Closing the door, Sakura turned back to Sasuke and didn't think she had ever seen him so pale.

"Sasuke," she said. "Stop being like this. You will frighten him, he is just a child. When he wakes up, tell him that you are his uncle and will be taking care of him. You have to be stronger than this; it's a miracle that we found him. Be thankful that there is something left of your brother in his son, but don't mistake him for Itachi."

"He looks just like him at that age," Sasuke whispered. His hair was falling in uneven strands to his chin and his sharingan. He was still so young, about nine, and it was nearly fully formed.

"What are we going to do, Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura grabbed Sasuke's chin and forced him to look at her, forcing sense into his mind that seemed to be drifting further and further into the darkness each moment.

"We are going to take care of him as if he were our own son, Sasuke."

Nodding, Sasuke suddenly saw Sakura before him, the light pouring from her eyes and he felt grounded, like Sakura was the only reason he was going to get through all of this. And as he watched her check his pulse and wipe his forehead, he knew he couldn't have done it without her.

# # #

~Three Months Later~

"Tsuneo!" Sakura shouted, waving.

He smiled at her as he ran in with the other children.

Sasuke watched him fondly, holding Hikaru in his arms whom was waving frantically too.

"Do you think he will be alright? He is starting a bit late," Sasuke said.

Sakura nodded. "With how much he has improved in just three months, I think he will be fine."

Sasuke tried to let his unease go. He was quite skilled for having never been training and after teaching him how to use his sharingan, the boy proved he was a true genius. He would probably excel past his year mates despite skipping a year.

Sasuke followed Sakura back and played with Hikaru who was waving to everyone he saw in the village who he knew and didn't.

"So," Sasuke said, catching Sakura's attention. "When do we get the chance to um…" Sasuke glanced at his son and saw how every word was sinking in, "get Hikaru another brother to play with?"

Sakura glanced sideways at him. "Who's to say it wouldn't be a little sister?"

Sasuke smiled, a real smile, the kind that made Sakura melt from the inside.

"I hope she has your hair," Sasuke said, turning his glowing smile towards her despite Hikaru's demand for his attention, "and the sharingan too."

"Daddy, what's the sharingan?" Hikaru asked.

Sasuke looked down at his son and couldn't help but hold him a little tighter. Everything had changed the day Sakura and Hikaru had walked back into his life. He could finally see with open eyes again, and the pain and darkness had faded. And now, with Tsuneo, Sasuke felt like there was a piece of Itachi still alive, not only within him, but his son, and the world that had only been full of eternal darkness before had shattered and he was finally free.

He was finally happy.

An: I hope you guys like the ending! Rough ride, I know, but wasn't it worth it!!! I appreciate all the wonderful reviews and I look forward to seeing you guys around the site again! And whatever you do, forget what I said about the anime version of Romeo and Juliet. -_- Don't watch it. I won't rant so I don't spoil, but SHEESH. And I'm so utterly shocked by the recent chapter. As I was editing this chapter and seeing this side of Sasuke, I wondered what the hell it is gonna take to get him to this point ever again... I'm not so sure it can happen anymore. Killing his loyal teammate like that is beyond repair. I hope she isn't dead. Later guys!