Rehabilitation

Disclaimer: Not mine if they were Shino would have a bigger part.

There are moments that Naruto will remember in perfect clarity forever.

Some are ecstatic joyous moments like when he received his hiate or first kissed Hinata.

Others were awful, seeing Kakashi's hand sticking out the other side of Haku, or watching Deidara perch on Gaara's body and knowing that he must be dead because the missing Iwa nin would never have gotten away with it otherwise.

But the worst of all was arriving in the cave just in time to see Sauske come into a broken and bleeding Sakura. She was still as death and there was not a little blood on the cave floor.

Nothing had ever filled Naruto with such rage.

Sakura was his nakama, his family, his sister, and Sauske had used her in the most abominable way.

He charged throwing the half-clothed Uchiha into the sharp rocks of the cave wall taking a sick satisfaction at seeing him impaled and hearing the crack of his head on the stone. Then he gathered Sakura carefully into his arms and took her as fast as he could to Tsunade.

Genma was waiting for Kakashi at the gate when he retuned and he felt his heart squeeze in an awful anticipation that he hadn't felt since he saw the blood leaking out from his father's door.

"What is it?"

"Sauske is dead."

Ah Kakashi thought but his chest remained tight.

"Who did it?"

"Naruto Sakura is in the hospital, he's with her."

The unspoken they need you was left in Kakashi's dust next to his fear of hospitals.

Sakura woke up but refused to open her eyes terrified that she's encounter red and black. Slowly she took assessment of her body. She was sore practically everywhere but she could tell that her cuts were bandaged and that she was in a relatively soft bed. The room smelled faintly of antiseptic. A hospital then, but had he succeeded? Had he managed to impregnate her?

He had (perhaps mercifully?) used the sharingan to knock her out before- before raping her. She stuttered on the thought but pushed clinically past it. Now for the test; she pooled her chakra into her lower abdomen and her breath caught when she felt them. Twins. She was having twins and no matter the circumstances she vowed that she would protect them form everything. Including their father and the Konoha Council. She would raise them and love them. She would make sure they were sane and not named Uchiha. With that vow she steeled herself and opened her eyes.

Instantly she realized she was in Konoha. She turned her head slowly. Naruto was slumped asleep on the windowsill and Kakashi's eye snapped open the instant her pillow rustled. He had come to sit with her without a porn book and in a hospital. He hated hospitals.

He watched silently as she propped herself up. Naruto let out a snort.

"Kakashi."

"Sakura."

Her mouth quirked in what might have been a smile and she held out her hand. He laid his fingers lightly on her open palm.

"How did I get here?"

"Naruto."

"And …and S-Sauske?"

"Dead." He said it objectively and she nodded.

He watched her quietly for a while. Then she sighed.

"He knocked me out. I didn't feel any of it then, but told me his intentions and I'm carrying twins so he must have succeeded before Naruto found me. He knew I would never abort a child but they won't be Uchiha. I'll make sure of it."

He simply put his hand more firmly in hers.

"I should wake Naruto and get Tsunade."

"Ungh not yet, they're loud." He chuckled and her lips quirked again as she squeezed his hand.

A few months later, shortly after her eighteenth birthday party (where all Ino could do was complain about the lack of alcohol), she was receiving a check-up when Tsunade spoke.

"You should start attending the birthing and childcare classes with a partner."

"Oh?"

"Yes they've been proven to reduce stress and make the birth go easier for everyone. Not to mention you're going to be a single mother, Sakura. You'll need childcare tips."

"Of course, I just don't know who to ask to be my coach. You and Shizune will be conducting the delivery and Ino is away in Suna indefinitely. Naruto already looks like he's going to faint every time someone brings it up."

Tsunade grimaced.

"You would think that being a ninja would make the men around here a little tougher but if anything it makes the even wimpier when it comes to stuff like this but what about Kakashi or Sai?"

Sakura winced.

"Really, Shishou? Sai? Maybe as back up but Kakashi sounds good if he'll agree. If not I'll try Hinata and Sai."

"Excellent, I'll sign you up so track whoever it's going to be down today."

"Yes, Shishou."

She debated with herself as she walked through the village. Was it even worth asking Kakashi, or would he turn her down instantly? But he had been so helpful when they ran into each other during the week. He carried groceries kept her company and made sure she knew what was going on in the village despite her decreasing mobility. It seemed as though she had already made her decision when she found herself at his apartment. He opened the door after the first knock.

"Sakura, what a pleasant surprise."

"I have a rather large favor to ask of you. You can turn it down now but if you say yes then you're in and only a mission would get you out of it."

"Alright continue."

"Well you're the first person I thought of that might actually be able to agree to it and we're pretty good friends so…."

His eye creased and he chuckled.

"Spit it out Sakura."

"Willyoubemybirthingcoach?"

His eyebrow rose.

"Come again?"

"Will you be my birthing coach?"

He blinked a couple of times looking actually stunned before smiling again.

"I would be honored."

She sighed relieved and hugged him.

"Thank you so much. I was afraid I was going to have to ask Sai."

"Oh well in that case…"

He was grinning beneath his mask as she squeaked and hit him indignantly.

"No way! I said you couldn't get out of it!"

He laughed and pulled her inside his apartment for dinner.

After Kakashi's agreement Tsunade took him off the long term and high ranking missions list. Part of what Sakura never found out was that neither Kakashi nor Tsunade wanted her alone for any long periods of time, especially later in her pregnancy where she could fall and hurt herself and the children. They (though neither said it) were also worried about her mental state considering the nature of the twins' conception. So after a while Sakura became used to Kakashi being there when she fell asleep and when she woke up, which is why when one day he hadn't shown up by midmorning she became worried and waddled out her door to find him.

It occurred to her that he might be training with Guy who had recently returned to the village so she set off towards the training grounds. It took her a while but she eventually made it to the memorial. He was sitting with his back to her facing the memorial. She paused a respectful distance away and when it seemed as though he wasn't going to ask her to leave she used a tree to lower herself to the ground and sat against it simply watching him patiently waiting. She could feel something in the air besides the impending storm on the horizon. This was a line; she was on one side of it and he was on the other. It was his decision to cross it or not. Just when she was about to close her eyes and nap sometime later he spoke.

"Today is the anniversary of my first jonin mission and the death of Uchiha Obito."

Sakura said nothing hoping this was what she had been waiting for, the chance to know Kakahi, not his many masks. Obviously the two occurrences were connected.

"It started when my father, Hatake Sakumo, made the conscious decision to abandon his mission to save his team. It was during the war and there were consequences that no one could have foreseen. Because of them the village, even the team he had saved, vilified and shamed him.

My mother was a fragile woman even before the village turned on us. I was four when she died it was my second month at the academy. I came home and found her peaceful and relaxed in the bed at last. She was a civilian and never really understood the shinobi way of life. Father loved her so much; it was painful to see him after she passed.

According to records it's a family trait loving so much that your life means little after your mate has passed. Hatakes do not long outlive their loves. Father lasted a year after she died before he committed suicide. I found him when I came home from training with Minato-sensei. I had just made genin and hoped that the more I learned the prouder he'd be and he'd snap out of it and smile a little more like he used to, but no. I lived alone after that even though Minato and Kushina offered to take me in.

I began wearing a mask so people would see Hatake Kakashi and not Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang. I moved into an apartment and closed up my house though recently I've been thinking of moving back in…I made chunin and sooner than I would have liked my sensei Namikaze Minato took two more genin students.

Minato-sensei was one of the best men and ninja I have ever known and he managed to be both at the same time. He was the Gold Flash and the third hokage. It was an honor to train under him that most didn't believe I deserved, so to prove them wrong I became a malleable tool. Sensei had heart and a Will of Fire much like Naruto, though he was more sensible. I had empty duty and a worn out rule book. "

Sakura fought back tears for him knowing he wouldn't appreciate them but she was extremely thankful that she was finally seeing him .The real Hatake Kakashi underneath the porn and slouched shoulders she already knew was a loyal and dedicated (if terminally late) shinobi and underneath the underneath he was a lonely and socially ousted man left behind by the ones he loved.

"Rin was a bit like you in her determination and compassion, as well as tenacity but acted more like Hinata without the stuttering.

Then there was Uchiha Obito an excuse for a nin even a genin, I thought. He was an obnoxious, terminally late crybaby and we argued like cats and dogs when it wasn't beneath me to acknowledge him, similarly to Sauske and Naruto. I was the tragic one and he was the loudmouth. Can you imagine what it was like seeing you three?

Anyway, he was my teammate, my family, my best friend.

I made jonin and the four of us went on a mission behind enemy lines. Sensei was going to distract the front while we blew out a bridge crucial to the enemy's supply transportation. I was leading our team. After we separated, on our way to the bridge Rin was captured. I insisted that Obito and I would complete the mission because as I had been told by the village over and over again 'Shinobi who don't follow the rules are lower than garbage'. Obito was in complete disagreement. I asked him if he knew what happened to shinobi who break the rules and I'll never forget what he said back to me.

"I do and that's why the White Fang was a true hero. Sure, shinobi who violate the rules and fail to follow orders are lower than garbage. However, those that do not care for and support their fellows are even lower than that!"

He proceeded to leave me there staring after him. I came to my senses and followed him shortly afterwards. I was wounded in my eye defending a blow for him and one of the stone nin began to bring the cave down around us. Obito was crushed saving Rin. He gave me his sharingan and Rin did the transplant. The Uchiha Clan glared every time they saw one of us, it was almost a relief when they were all gone, but that was later. We met up with Minato-sensei and blew out the bridge completing our mission.

A year later Rin used up all of her chakra and disappeared on the battlefield.

Shortly after, while we were fighting the Kyubbi, Uzamaki Kushina gave birth to Namikaze Naruto but before he could be properly named she passed away. I saw the life go out of Minato in the same way it had left my father, by taking everything else with it. He saved his village by dying to seal the Kyubbi within Naruto believing that the village would care for him. I should have taken Naruto and cared for him a little but I joined ANBU and carried out missions in the aftermath of the war. Now here we are."

Sakura found herself unable to stand without aide so she awkwardly scooted along the grass until she was beside him. She leaned her head on his shoulder that was less for her comfort than his.

Suddenly she gasped and pressed her hands to her stomach.

"Oh!"

She startled him a bit as she grabbed his hand and laid it over her stomach.

"Do you feel that Kakashi? They're moving!"

She had tears in her dazzling green eyes.

"Yes" he whispered.

His grey eye met hers intensely then he pulled down his mask and pressed his lips to her cheek lightly but lingeringly.

She couldn't help herself she stared at him. He was handsome, not feminine like Sai or golden boy like Naruto but something distinctly masculine and aristocratic. He was a man, just a wonderful man who had trusted her with all of himself. She grinned brightly and pressed lips to his. He kissed her back gently and rubbed small circles on her protruding stomach. After a bit he pulled back and wrapped his arm around her.

"I'm thinking of airing out the Hatake house and living in it again but it is rather large and I have gotten used to having you around. Will you come with me?"

"Yes, I'd like that very much."

Then thunder sounded in the distance and he smiled as he replaced his mask and took her home.

In the middle of her eighth month Sakura spent a pleasant afternoon shopping with Hinata but by the end of it her feet and back were killing her (not to mention the internal bruising she was sure to have from her energetic unborn children. She practically moaned with relief when Kakashi opened the door and took her few bags before she reached threshold. He helped her inside and closed the door before tugging his mask down and kissing her quite fiercely.

"I have a surprise for you." He murmured against her lips.

"Mmmm…really?"

He grinned and scooped her up carrying her down the hall and laughing when she made a comment about unnaturally strong men and whale-like pregnant women.

"Close your eyes." He said as he set her down.

She complied and he guided her into a room.

"Open them."

She did and immediately started crying. He had turned a bedroom into a sunny yellow nursery complete with double cribs. Once she had pulled herself together and thanked him profusely she said

"I was meaning to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"I have thought a lot about that day when you told me about yourself and I was wondering if…well, if I could…it's extremely-"

She was red faced and uncomfortable making him grin but she took a breath and calmed herself.

"I was wondering if you would mind me naming them, if they're boys, Sakumo and Obito. If they are girls I was thinking Rin and Arisa after my mother."

Kakashi was shocked and couldn't think of anything except-

"What are you using for a last name?"

"I was planning on Haruno."

"Hmmmmm"

She fidgeted.

"You can name them however you want on the condition that you marry me and I can call all three of you Hatakes."

She blinked in shock.

"Are you proposing?"

"Looks that way doesn't it? Granted I had planned on waiting until after you were over the birthing process and what not but really Haruno Sakumo? Sounds a little odd to me but it's your choice. I won't ever take that away from you."

"and you mean it? Like you love me and everything?"

"Of course I love you. We would never have moved into this house otherwise. I just have issues saying it aloud."

"Uh Huh. Then I accept and love you too."

Two years later when Hatake Arisa was born Sakura felt that the world was right and three years after that when Hatake Hatori was born the world was perfect (well at least until her children grew up but that is another story.)

A/N: Wow I typed this in two days! Go me! If you haven't read my ANs in Ostensible then you don't know that I detest typing, but I do and that is why nothing I have written makes it to the internet. Obviously, though, I'm getting better. This is a prequel to a multichapter fic that I will be posting as soon as I get some of it typed and come up with a title… It's Arisa's story and it would seem as though she also has a taste for older men …but anyway thank you for reading! Please review with constructive criticism and requests or suggestions. Thank you so much, Chaer.