The next morning, Sasuke sat up and rubbed his eyes as he looked past the edge of the cliff and remembered what had just happened the night before.

"A name." He sighed as he looked down at Sakura, who was still sound asleep. He quietly stood up and left to sit on the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean, the sun just brimming the horizon. He pulled out a scroll and pen and began to compose his letter.

A few minutes later, Sakura turned in her sleep and found herself rolling off of the bedding that they'd been sleeping on and woke up on the grass. She pouted to herself, sat up, and looked around, slightly confused.

"Good morning, Sakura." Sasuke called from the edge of the cliff, "let me finish this letter to Naruto, then we can gather some food for breakfast."

"Okay." Sakura stretched out her arms and pulled herself to stand up, "I'm going to find a place to wash up. Maybe by that stream we passed by not too far from here."

"Alright. Be careful."

Taking her husband's warning, Sakura slowly made her way through the brush and found the small stream from where she and Sasuke had gathered water the night before. She ran her hands through the moving water before her eyes caught sight of a brown bag not too far from where she was kneeling by the stream.

"Sasuke must've left this." She took the bag and opened it, "this is definitely his."

The first thing she lifted out was her journal from the final fight with Aoba. She pursed her lips and fingered through the pages until on the last page, she found a note.

I know you two will do great things together in the future. Don't let the Shinobi world down. Change it. I'm counting on you now to do what I could never do. Go make good-looking kids. Haha. I'm serious, though.

- Aoba

"Aoba..." Sakura chuckled sadly as she shut the book and put it back into the bag. She looked through the rest of its contents and pulled out what looked like a misplaced kunai. She inspected it for a few moments before quickly slipping it back into the bag.

"Sakura."

She turned around and held the bag in front of her, "I think you left this here last night, Sasuke."

"Oh, that's right. Thank you." He took the bag and carefully helped Sakura stand up, "I was thinking, we can find a dock and go overseas. You know what's just a boat-ride ahead don't you?"

Sakura grinned, "the Land of Waves, right? You mean... We can visit Tazuna and Inari again?"

"I don't see anything wrong with that." Sasuke smiled, "we should start walking, though, if we want to find a boat before noon."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Sakura laughed as she started off as fast as she could, which wasn't very fast.

Sasuke chuckled to himself as he slung the bag over his shoulder and onto his back and then took Sakura's hand, "don't move too fast. The dock's not far from here."

"Then what were you saying earlier?" Sakura pouted, "that's not very nice."

"Let's just keep going."

After a couple of hours, they finally reached the boating docks. They found a man willing to take them to the Land of Waves free of charge when he recognized who they were.

"You know, I can get you two to the Land of Waves in under an hour without any disruptions."

"Can you?" Sakura beamed, "that would be wonderful! Thank you!"

Once the arrangements were made, they set off on the quick boat ride to the village of the Land of Waves.

"So, you're Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, right?" The old man studied the two of them, "you're both famous around these parts, lately."

Sasuke cleared his throat, "that doesn't surprise me anymore."

"We've heard news of the both of you traveling around wreaking havoc and destroying villages. Is that true?"

"Hold on." Sakura shook her head, "we haven't done anything like that. Those rumors have to be false, Sir."

"Ah, well I'm glad to hear it. I wouldn't suspect anything of the sort of you both. You're good Shinobi."

Sasuke swallowed hard, "what other rumors did you hear of us?"

"I heard that you two are expecting." He looked at Sakura, "which appears to be true."

"It is."

"I've also heard ninja all over the Shinobi nation are attacking you both. Is that true?"

"Yes." Sasuke looked down at his hand, "we're constantly being jumped by ninja and groups of rogue ninja, it's not almost normal and predictable. We're constantly in danger, especially with the baby."

"We're trying to be extremely cautious who we could trust." Sakura chuckled weakly, "we've made mistakes like those in the past."

"Don't worry." The old man smiled at the two of them, "you can trust me. I'm a huge fan of you three. You two and the nine-tails Jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki. He's your teammate, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Team 7 has been an inspiration all over the nation. I'm from the Land of Waves, so I remember you three since you were Genin."

Sakura blinked a few times, "hold on, you're from the Land of Waves? So, then, that means..."

"Yep. I was there when the Great Naruto bridge was still being completed." The man looked at them again, "speaking of which, I'm surprised you both didn't choose to take the bridge. You'd probably get there faster."

"Well..." Sasuke looked at Sakura, "in her condition, I figured she'd want to take a load off her feet for a while."

"That's very true." Sakura laughed, "we've already been walking for a couple of hours just to get to the docks, it'd probably take longer to cross the bridge."

"Of course." The man squinted over the water and chuckled, "well, what do you know? We've arrived ahead of schedule."

Sakura smiled and patted Sasuke excitedly, "we're here, again! I can't wait to see Tazuna and Inari! Do you think they'll have food? I'm a bit hungry, it could just be my mind talking. My head's bigger than my stomach. Well, not at this very moment, but metaphorically speaking, I might throw up if I eat too much or more than I could handle, but--"

"Okay, Sakura. We'll find you some food when we get to Tazuna's house." Sasuke patted her shoulder reassuringly as the boat pulled up to the dock of the village.

"Thank you, kind boat man!" Sakura called as they walked further from the boat and the old man that brought them there, "he's so nice, Sasuke. Isn't he?"

"Of course."

Sakura continued to talk mindlessly as Sasuke led her through the familiar streets up to the familiar house.

"I hope we're not bothering them." Sasuke sighed as he knocked on the door.

"Do you think they're home?" Sakura muttered as she tapped the door herself.

Sasuke chuckled, "Sakura, give them some time to get to the door first."

Sure enough, the door opened and before them stood Inari, probably a foot taller than the last time they saw him.

"Sasuke! Sakura!" Inari beamed, "Grandpa, come see who's...  Wh-what?!"

Inari stared in shock at the couple as Tazuna came running up to him, "ah, well if it isn't Sasuke and Sakura! Guess you two couldn't stay away for long, could you... S-Sakura! You're pregnant?!"

Sakura laughed and rubbed her stomach, "yes, I am!"

Tazuna stood aside and tapped Inari to move from the doorway, "please, come inside! Both of you! No need standing around awkwardly!"

Inari pulled out a chair from the dining table for Sakura to sit on, "wow, how long has it been?"

"It's been a good number of months already." Sakura chuckled, "the baby's pretty close, actually."

"We've been keeping track." Sasuke sighed, "it's kind of unpredictable, though."

"You should probably stop somewhere, find a hospital." Tazuna crossed his arms, "why don't you go back to the Leaf Village? Staying home would be good for both Sakura and the baby, you know."

"We do know, but..." Sakura rubbed her stomach, "the thing is, we've been in danger even before I found out I was pregnant. We don't want that danger following us back to the Leaf Village, especially since Naruto and Hinata have their own newborn as well. We don't want to prioritize the village's security by adding to their responsibilities."

"In other words..." Sasuke put his hand on Sakura's shoulder, "we want to stay away from the village to keep it safe."

"But how do you know what you're doing here is safe for Sakura? Or your baby?"

"We know it's not, but I'm willing to put up with that risk." Sakura looked down, "after all, I'm a medic ninja. I can easily track my own health."

"I suppose." Tazuna sighed, "just... Don't exert yourself too hard, you hear? You should be resting as much as you can at a time like this."

"I know." Sakura nodded.

Inari stood up from where he sat by Sakura, "h-hey, we should go out and do something fun while you two are here!"

She looked back at him, "what did you have in mind?"

"We should go out, I don't know, go shopping." Inari chuckled, "or go out and see the Great Naruto Bridge."

"That sounds fun." Sakura stood up before Sasuke shook his head, "come on, Sasuke... Don't be a wet blanket."

"Ah, what if you get exhausted or faint?" He looked at her seriously.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine." She laughed in reply as she followed Inari to the door, "you stay here with Tazuna and maybe help him move our stuff to the guestroom. We'll probably stick around for the night. I'm going out with Inari."

"Hmph..." Sasuke pouted as he watched Sakura leave with the boy, "at least let me come with you..."

"Heh." Tazuna chuckled as he picked Sakura's bag up and gestured Sasuke down the hall, "come on. I'll show you to your room."

___________________

"And that's how I passed the Chunin exams by a hair." Inari laughed as he swung his legs over the bridge and sat along the edge, "pretty neat, huh? I thought for a moment I was going to die."

"That's pretty scary." Sakura chuckled as she leaned over the railing of the Great Naruto Bridge, "I nearly died when I first took the Chunin exams, too."

"Really?" Inari looked up at her, "I never really heard about what actually happened that day."

"Well..." Sakura reminisced, "it was bad. That's when Sasuke first got the Curse Mark bite from Orochimaru, though we didn't know exactly what it was. I was the only one who knew about it, but Sasuke told me to stay quiet about it, so I did. I never thought it'd manifest into something so... Evil, though. After that, Gaara, the current Fifth Kazekage, still hadn't really had full control over the one-tailed beast. Like Naruto, he's a Jinchuuriki. Anyways, he and Naruto got into an all-out fight, and the rest of the Genin taking the Chunin exam got roped into it as well. Sasuke was one of the ones in danger during that fight and I remember trying to protect him, only getting knocked out in the process. The rest of that fight is a blur to me. The last thing I remember is getting thrown aside in an effort to protect Sasuke. After that, things settled... Kind of."

"What happened then?"

"The Third Hokage was killed by Orochimaru, Sasuke's Curse Mark only got worse, and his revenge mission against his brother became stronger and more prevalent to him." Sakura pursed her lips, "it was nearly impossible to get through to him, especially if he only sought out strength and power. Eventually... He left. He left in search of Orochimaru for more power and became a rogue ninja in the process."

"Wow... So that's where Sasuke's been all this time?" Inari clasped his hands together and looked down at the water, "when Grandpa and I went to visit the Leaf Village and it was only you and Naruto, I thought Sasuke was just out on a mission for the village, or something. I guess not." He looked back up at her, "so why did he come back at the end? How was he even able to come back?"

"I ask myself that question every day ever since the day he came back then left again as a Shinobi hoping to protect the village he once sought to destroy. It was so contradictory to me, I almost gave up searching for the answer. But in the end, it was Naruto. He's the one that was able to persuade Kakashi-Sensei to take Sasuke back and forgive him. Though we tell him that he's been forgiven, he travels endlessly with the hopes of earning our trust back."

"I've heard all over the news about ninja going after Sasuke. Is that why?"

"Well, him being a rogue ninja is part of the reason. He's also the last Uchiha on the planet. The Uchiha clan is one of the most prominent clans in the Shinobi nation, so many people want to wipe out the bloodline completely." She rubbed her stomach, "this baby holds the future of the entire clan, which is why Sasuke and I have to be continually on a guard and be careful who we trust."

Inari sighed, "I'm sorry to hear that. That's sort of sudden for Sasuke to be all lovey-dovey like that out of nowhere."

Sakura blushed, "'lovey-dovey'? Haha, you're silly, Inari. H-he wouldn't be all like that at all, trust me. Heh-heh."

"I'm just saying." Inari cackled, "I'm not trying to get any details out of you or anything."

"No, no, of course not." Sakura laughed, "w-we should head back, it's getting dark."

"Yeah, sure." Inari climbed up from the edge of the bridge and took Sakura's hand, "I'll help you."

"Aw, thank you!" Sakura smiled before looking up at the sunset.

Inari's not wrong, though. After years away from the village and away from the people he loves most, Sasuke suddenly comes out of nowhere and wants to be with us again. It's all so sudden and almost ridiculous, I wouldn't blame anyone who doesn't believe him right away. I haven't gathered enough courage to ask him myself, but someday, that's what I want to know. I want to know why he came back after all those years and suddenly want to marry me. He couldn't... He couldn't be using me for clan restoration, could he? No, that's not it. That can't be. I mean, I hope it's not. Oh gosh...

_____________________

"The food was delicious," Sasuke called to Tazuna from the kitchen sink as he set the plate aside to dry after washing it.

"I'm glad you liked it." Tazuna took a sip of his sake and gestured Sasuke over, "I think Inari's in bed, and I'm assuming Sakura's already gone to bed as well."

"I guess." Sasuke pulled out a chair across from Tazuna and sat down, "did you have something on your mind?"

"Well." Tazuna set out another small glass in front of Sasuke and offered it to him, "I was wondering if there was something on your mind. You've seemed anxious the moment you two arrived."

Sasuke overlooked the glass and shook his head, "I don't drink."

"Hm..." Tazuna smirked, "just as I suspected of a level-headed Shinobi like yourself."

"Hn." He shrugged, "Sakura doesn't drink either."

"So I heard." Tazuna wiped his nose, "anyways, I called you over to talk about you, not your abstinence."

"Heh." Sasuke chuckled, "ah, well, what is there to talk about?"

"I don't know." Tazuna looked him up and down, "how do you feel right now?"

"I feel fine."

"I can tell when you're lying, Boy."

"Uh..." Sasuke looked down at the table, "I don't talk about feelings like this... Very often."

"Well." Tazuna took another sip, "good to start somewhere, eh?"

Sasuke looked at him then let out a sigh of defeat, "it's nothing."

"You're nervous, I know." Tazuna looked at him and set the cup of sake down, "let me give you some advice. It's your call whether to take it and run with it or drop it the moment it comes out of my mouth." He set the cup aside and set his arm on the table, "let me ask you a question to begin: are you keeping Sakura happy?"

"I hope I am."

"No hesitation in that answer, I like that. Now, you need to understand the difference between being a husband and being a father. With a baby on the way, you need to be ready for anything."

"Of course I am--"

"And I'm not talking about being there for Sakura. I'm talking about being there for the baby when he or she grows up, being there to help them or love them the way you do with your wife. You have to be ready for those sleepless nights putting them to bed or changing their diapers. You have to be ready to sacrifice everything for them, to love them more than you love yourself. And that's all speaking from experience."

Sasuke thought long and hard on that scenario.

"Like I said." Tazuna shrugged as he stood up and took the bottle of sake, "take it or leave it, that's up to you."

He took a quick swig from the bottle and made his way down the hall before Sasuke turned to look at him, "Tazuna."

"Hm?"

Sasuke looked at him, then at the ground, as his hand made its way into his pocket and clutched the handle of a certain wrapped kunai he'd retrieved from his bag earlier that evening, "I'll be ready... I'll protect our child, no matter the cost."

Tazuna looked at him, smirked, and nodded, "I'm sure you will. Good night, Sasuke. I'll let you sleep on that for a while."