I sighed, feet dangling off the ledge of my balcony as I gazed into the night sky. The shine of the stars always seemed to calm me when my mind was swirling with thoughts, always of the same person and the same situations.

"Yuki," I said as a short introduction. His eyes flickered towards me, then looked away bored.

"I don't need to know your name. Just stay out of my way."

"Never dreamed of being a hindrance to the almighty Uchiha," I droned, walking away before I could meet one of his famous glares.

I lightly smacked myself, breaking away from the memory of when we first met. Maybe if I wasn't so proud back then, I would've listened to him and stayed out of his way. However, even despite pride that's hard to do when we're on the same team. Not that it even mattered, I thought. He was still cruel.

Seeing as the stars did nothing for me this time, I forced myself back into my quiet home. I hate thinking about the day I realized I had feeling for the jerk. I was fine going about my life hating his harsh words and cruel actions, yet he somehow managed to behave as a decent human being a few times.

'I wonder if they watch over me.' I thought as I knelt in front of my parents' graves. I didn't even know them, yet I always had heavy moments of sadness thinking about how different my life would've been if they lived.

I didn't dare tell anyone I came here when dark thoughts clawed into my mind. Everyone is supposed to think I'm this indifferent girl striving to become a ninja in order to help others. I'm the one that excelled in strategy along with Shikamaru, and Ninjutsu with Sasuke. And yet here I am like some sort of fragile doll.

"What are you doing here looking so pathetic?" said the last person I wanted to encounter. I didn't even bother with a response, causing him to walk closer and sit next to me uninvited. "I didn't know you've lost people."

"I lost them far before I got to know them."

It took him a second to reply, maybe because he was calculating the dates on the tombstone with what he assumed to be my age. "At least you didn't grow up with them just to lose them."

I chuckled darkly. "At least you know what a mother's love feels like."

Silence filled the air, and I hoped that maybe he'd be done with me and decide to leave. I didn't have the energy today to keep up my quick remarks, to keep the indifference on my face. Sasuke of all people didn't need to see me like this.

"My father," he started again. "I think he loved me, but he had a weird way of showing it. He always pushed me hard to be great like my prodigy of a brother. Even after he was killed by the pride of our clan, I wanted to impress him in the afterlife to show him that I could be stronger and avenge him."

"And your mother?"

His eyes softened ever so slightly. "I knew how much she loved me."

"My brother says that when I was born my parents were so happy. They always wanted a girl, so that they could have equal representation of the sexes in the house. But my father ended up holding me and doing the most with me than my mother for some reason. Hiro said it's not because she loved me less, but father just surprisingly started with the "daddy's little girl" stuff a lot earlier than imagined."

"Do you know what they look like?"

I sighed, taking a picture out of my pocket that I carried when I visited. In it looked like a happy family, with a tall man with fiery red hair and brown eyes smirking with pride while a delicate woman with black hair and brown eyes leaned into him. She had one hand on a little boy, fair skinned and same look as the mother, while the tan baby being held by the father resembled him.

"They died a week after this was taken," I started. "Hiro doesn't know I come here sometimes, how much I think of whether they really loved me or if he's telling me stories to make me feel better."

I saw him glance at me, then back at the picture. "You can't fabricate the kind of love seen in this photo."

And somehow, that statement made my heart warm for him.

My parents died long ago from the Nine Tails' devastation before I could even know them, leaving only me and my brother to fend for ourselves. Times were hard, as expected of two ninja orphans, but I quickly realized that as long as we had each other we could get through anything. But now I'm an adult and decided I should be on my own instead of relying on my brother so much in the home. He shouldn't always have to protect me, not even from fanboys and jerks.

"The Uchiha is staring at you again," Hiro signed to me. I paused my walking to glance back at my pursuer, but he pretended to be training. Sometimes I regret having a training spot so close to his, adjacent really, but that would just display my denial for my true feelings by this point.

I've been on his team for a little over a year now, and sadly I have in fact developed feelings for him unbeknownst to everyone except Hiro. The day I told him I couldn't tell if his face showed signs of relief, or he saw the future of my impending doom. We're both aware of Sauce's dangerous obsession with revenge and the strong possibility of him going to the deepest depths of the dark side to get it, but somehow along our journey he captured my interest.

"I still don't know what you see in him," Hiro grumbled, even his fingers expressing his discontent as he signed.

"Sometimes I don't know myself," I replied, still focusing my chakra to my feet so I glided across the lake. "But he caught me at really bad times and found a way to comfort me despite his harsh exterior."

"Since when?"

I glanced at his figure against the tree. "Since you started going on missions more frequently to support us."

I scoffed at the memory, now more aware of how that one conversation caused my brother and I to become closer instead of him feeling compelled to be the breadwinner of our little family. I think I made him feel bad, or he took it as the opportunity for me to spend more time with him and less time with Sasuke. Not that it worked.

His fingers ran slowly through my hair, savoring the soft red tresses and lavender smell. I sighed in content, wanting to forget all his negatives that drove me crazy and focus on moments like this where he reminded me ever so subtly why I developed feelings for him.

"Do you ever think about what you'll do after?"

His lips traced my shoulder. "After what?"

"After your revenge. Have you thought that far ahead?"

He paused. "Restore my clan."

"That's such a simple answer and not very well thought out.

"Okay. I want to marry the woman who will have me despite my faults."

"And?"

"And create a life together."

"And?"

"And have children who will grow strong and carry the Uchiha name."

I pushed him away slightly. "Seems like you're more focused on the Uchiha name than being happy."

"Wait," he commanded, grabbing my arm before I could go too far. I groaned, not wanting to look at him as he tried to correct me or scold me. This conversation felt meaningless considering he'd either die in battle or be so far gone he'd be unattainable to the rest of us. To me. "All of that would make me happy. Do you really take me as an egotistical jerk?"

"Ye-"

"That was a rhetorical question."

"And I was about to provide a rhetorical answer before you so rudely interrupted me."

Now it was his tone to groan, running a frustrated hand through his hair in the process. "I would come back for you if that's what you're worried about."

That was the main worry, but I didn't want to admit that. I didn't want to admit how he made me feel whole. How he filled a void I've had for so long that even Hiro couldn't fill. How I didn't expect him to survive. How I didn't believe his feelings for me.

Instead I put on my usual indifferent face. "I'm sure Sakura will still be a willing candidate to sleep with you."

This time he glared. "That's not what I want. Do I have to spell it out for you?"

"Apparently you do."

"I want…"

"Me," I whispered, trying to fight back tears. "You claim you wanted me and lied to my face."

"I didn't."

What the…

My head spun to my door where the source of the voice stood. I'd recognize that voice anywhere, no matter how deep it had matured. I wanted to slap myself for allowing my defenses to slip, for allowing thoughts to corrupt my senses and not even notice an intruder in my home.

"Were you reminiscing about us?"

"What us? You clearly displayed that whatever connection we had didn't matter."

"You knew I'd leave."

"You knew I'd let you go."

"Then why complain now of past feelings?"

"Because you should've stayed out of my goddamned life."

I didn't dare raise my voice and show him my true anger, but that was getting harder by the second. This isn't our first encounter since he left, but I never wanted to see him again after he didn't come back post Itachi's death. He didn't even come right back after the war.

Yet here he is in my room.

"You know," he started stepping into the light of my room cast by the moon. My body was already reacting to his presence. "I said I'd come back. I just didn't specify when."

I rolled my eyes. "Was that supposed to make me feel better?"

"I'm just stating fact," he replied, but I noticed he could barely keep the cocky smirk off his face as he stopped in front of me. With our proximity I could feel the energy between our bodies become even stronger, like there was a force trying to pull us together.

"...Mommy?"

My head whipped to the voice behind Sasuke, partially in shock and partially in fear. "Miko honey, why are you up so late?"

"I heard you talking," she mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes before focusing on the foreign man in the room. I carefully watched his expression, his Sharingan and Rinnengan landing on the tiny four year old girl. What surprised me was how she didn't show any signs of fear or intimidation; she met his stare head on with her onyx eyes. "Are you daddy?"

I couldn't help but face palm at her awful timing and quickly went to scoop her up and put her back in bed. She didn't attempt any sorts of struggle; probably because she was still tired no matter how brave she was facing a total stranger and asking him such a bold question. I whispered to her the answer she sought before tucking her in, her smile plastered on her face as her eyes fluttered shut.

Sasuke stood in his same spot waiting for my return, no display of emotion on his face despite the questions I knew he'd ask. Maybe he'd assume the child wasn't his, the product of a lover I sought after his abandonment. Honestly that would've been the smart thing for me to do, but I've made a lot of bad decisions in my life.

I smirked at his silence. "Are you so shocked I birthed a child at a young age?"

"She looked about four, and you're twenty-one now so you were pregnant at seventeen. That's a lot of responsibility for you."

My smirk disappeared at his correct deductions. "It was hard, but Naruto and Hiro were very supportive."

"Miko?" he whispered, staring back out the door. "She has my mother's eyes."

"That is in fact how DNA works."

"How?"

"I guess you forgot about our last encounter."

He groaned in pleasure, rolling off my naked form after his release. I panted heavily at all the energy and activity I used with him, finally giving into my long hidden desires. In the back of my mind I knew this was a mistake, that he would just leave me again, but I just wanted one night of not thinking about any of the consequences.

"I love you ya know," I whispered, throwing my arm in front of my face to hide my growing shame. I heard him sigh before moving closer to me, his slender finger tracing my side causing me to shiver.

"I know."

"But you want me gone."

"I can't have you stay here for long. My team and I are going to search for Itachi again, and I need you safe."

"I'm not weak. I was stronger than you in our genin days remember," I replied uncovering my face and using my free hand to flick his forehead. He rolled his eyes at my actions and brought me against his bare chest; I forgot he was the spooning type.

"You're stronger than any woman I know, which is why I know you'll be fine until everything is done."

I shifted to look at him. "Was this just your one night stand?"

His hand cupped my cheek, bringing me to him so he can kiss my forehead then rests his against mine. He spoke with his eyes closed. "I wanted this night with you. Just in case…"

"Shhh…." I didn't want him to say it.

"I love you too, Yuki."

I smiled a rare smile, and then my look turned mischievous as I climbed on top of him. His eyes widened at first, but a smirk slowly crept to his face as our bodies became one once more.

"I didn't mean to get you pregnant and leave, especially after both of our first times."

What did you think would happen dumbass? I thought, but his statement made me blush. "I guess I restored the Uchiha clan faster than you thought."

"What does the village think? Is she safe?"

I rolled my eyes. "You're four years late, but she's fine. The past is the past."

"And what about our future?"

Realistically, I should've punched him and kicked him out my house by now, but why would I want to chase away our final chance of a life together? He came back to me, no matter how much time had passed and how broken our future seemed.

"Are you even ready for fatherhood?"

"If I can handle that idiot blowing off my arm I can handle Miko," he said with confidence. He definitely enjoyed degrading Naruto in the process.

I shrugged, though on the inside I was more than happy to finally welcome him back. He saw through my feigned indifference and was in front of me in a second, wrapping his arm around me in a warm embrace.

"I won't leave you like that again," he whispered. "Well...unless it's a mission. But I promise to never be gone for that long ever again."

"Gee, you sure know how to swoon a girl."

He chuckled. "So why'd you choose Miko for a name?"

I paused and made sure to pull away so I could look him in the eye when answering him. "It's short for your mother's name."

By the way his lips pressed against mine, holding me tightly like he never wanted to leave my side; I knew our relationship was finally ready.