Mama-

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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First of all, Sakura never anticipated that when she ran after her child and husband, she'd find them being attacked. Of course, she wasted no time in opening a can of whoop-ass on the assailants. It had definitely taken her by surprise.

What was worse though, was the fact that she had been kidnapped by said attackers, and taken to a place that was apparent to Sakura, another dimension. The nerve of these creatures, especially the largest, and strangest looking of them all.

Though these real bodied clones had attacked those most precious to her, they were only children, and to have their creator, using them to protect himself... it was despicable.

Why... Sakura had tried her best to go all Naruto, with the talk-no-jutsu, but her temper was flaring. She was outright pissed that anyone could use any type of child for anything so horrendous, and that's just what she said to the no good, Sharingan stealer.

What she hadn't been expecting more than anything, was for the children 'Uchiha's' to turn on their creator, like the no-good bastard he was. She wouldn't complain though. He deserved no less. She even found herself smirking quite deviously as they handled him without her having to do anything else.

Maybe the talk did work... just not as I'd been anticipating. She thought, grinning to herself with arched brows and a huff of amusement.

"Mama."

"Eh?"

Sakura blinked down at the herd of clones gathered before, and all around her. Had she just heard that right? Did one of them actually-

"Mama!" All at once, she was bombarded with affectionate hugs that threw her for a loop.

However, being the caring, adoring, and most of the time gentle, motherly, woman that she was, she just couldn't turn them away. These... kids weren't bad, just mislead, used. They needed guiding, in the right way, and something was telling her she should guide them.

It was probably the way they were all staring at her, big round Sharingan eyes, unconcealed grins.

Oh boy...

"I'm Sakura Uchiha." She introduced herself, wanting to give her name quickly, so they wouldn't call her mama, which still wasn't making any sense to her. She'd hoped they would tire of clinging to her, and back away to give her some space, but it didn't seem like that would be happening any time soon.

"Uchiha... mama." Several of them chanted simultaneously.

She blushed at that.

Well, I am an Uchiha mama, right? She giggled to herself.

"Oh, but there's so many of you... and what are your names?"

"Shin Uchiha." They all answered at once.

Well... How original.

"Okay..." She sighed. "I'll make sure to take care of you, okay? I won't let any more harm come to you."

"Mama! Mama! Mama!"

Hmm... This was probably not going to be easy for her.

Sakura was still stuck in their grasps when she felt a wormhole open behind her, just as she looked, Sasuke, Sarada, Naruto and even Chouchou appeared from their own dimension, no doubt coming to her rescue.

Though she really didn't need rescuing, well maybe a bit, but a part of her didn't want to be taken from the kids. They seemed to be taken with her, and who was she to turn them away?

"Are you alright?" Sasuke pushed past the clones and took her hand, ignoring the group of them altogether.

"Dont touch! Mama..."

"M...Mama?" Sasuke was taken aback and at a loss for words as he was tackled by dozens of them at once.

"Sasuke, I'm fine, and don't hurt them! They're just kids."

"Just kids?!" He nearly shouted then from where he'd been forced all the way back to Naruto and the girls.

"Where's their leader?" Naruto questioned thoughtfully, while scratching his chin.

"They took him out. Right boys?"

"Right. Save Mama."

Sakura laughed nervously while giving her family and comrades a slight shrug of her shoulders. Sakura almost lost it, almost fell into a laughter she would not soon return from when she saw Sasuke's face.

To see him, wide eyed, mouth ajar and with such a look of shock on his face was a rarity and not only that, but she found it all too hilarious, especially considering the situation.

"What will we do with them?" Naruto was the one to finally bring up the question on everyone's mind and Sakura turned to him then, her hands wrapped protectively around four of them, while several of them clung to her just as protectively.

"Well, I certainly can't take care of all of them. The orphange would be a good place. But let's not send all of them there. I could put them to work, and train them myself."

"What?" Sasuke squeaked, his tone causing a grin to spread over Sakura's face that she tried hard to hide from him.

"Well, they do seem quite fond of Mama." Sarada seemed to agree.

Naruto nodded several times. "True. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea."

"It is a horrendous idea. I can't even believe you three." Sasuke scoffed.

"What do you think boys, will it work if maybe you take turns at the orphange for a while? That way all of you can stay with me some?"

"Mama. Stay."

"Well then, it's settled." Sakura announced.

...

This was absolutely ludicrous, nonsensical. Sasuke was appalled by the events that had taken place since he was supposed to have a brief and simple enough meet with Naruto. No, it had turned into a family reuinion, and that would have been just fine and dandy with him, had it not been for the family expanding by ten.

After Sarada confronted him, and the unknown Uchiha problem being taken care of for the most part, Sasuke knew he needed to go home with his wife and daughter. He needed to reasure Sarada, help her understand before he could resume his mission.

That was fine with him too, he owed it to his daughter to spend at least some time with her, and he wouldn't mind having some well overdue time with his wife. But, how could he enjoy this time when his whole family had been taken over by these... Shins.

And, to top it all off... he didn't even have a home to return to anymore. He hadn't questioned it at first. It was only when they were having dinner in a cramped apartment with ten extra mouths that he finally found his voice again.

"What happened to the house?" He asked flatly, mixmatched eyes following Sakura as she went about setting the food on the table, with ten Shins sloppily helping.

Sakura almost dropped the plates she was carrying at the simple question, though one of the Shins quickly caught them, what with them being right under her feet and all. Sakura raised her then empty hands and faked a laugh.

"Well, you see..."

"It was my fault." Sarada interjected. "I made Mama mad... and she accidentally destoryed it."

Sasuke blinked once, twice, eyes settling on his fidgeting wife. "I just barely put a small dent in the ground, you know... I mean, I hardly even touched it. Next thing I knew, the house was crumbling."

A large sweatdrop formed on the back of her head, which was all Sasuke could see aside from the several Shins surrounding her body.

"Mama strong!"

"Mama destory house."

"Mama amazing."

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose in a feeble attempt to cool himself. A part of him wanted to ask what could have made Sakura so angry as to punch the ground with her out of the world strength, but he was sure he didn't want to know, and even if Sarada had done something bad, he was in no position with her to be disciplining her for something that happened while he wasn't even around.

"Let's just eat, okay?" Sakura declared, as a huge, fake grin plastered across her face.

Somehow, they made it through dinner, though it was a silent affair aside from the few questions Sarada brought up to Sasuke, all of which he answered vaguely. As soon as they'd finished eating, Sakura got to her feet and immediately went about cleaning the table, only to be stopped in her tracks by all the Shins.

"We help Mama."

Sakura could only scratch her head with a chuckle as they went about cleaning up on their own, breaking quite a few dishes along the way. One glance at Sasuke was enough to let her know how displeased he was with this arrangement, not that she didn't already know he wasn't happy about it, but he seemed to be getting more upset about it by the minute.

"Well, I'm going to head to bed." Sarada announced with a smile before walking over to give Sakura a quick hug and then looking to Sasuke bashfully. "Um..."

"Goodnight Sarada." Sasuke told her affectionately while poking her forehead.

"Uh, g-goodnight." She stammered, cheeks pinkening before she hurried off to her room.

When Sasuke's gaze turned back to her, Sakura blushed herself while shifting her feet nervously. Sasuke was really there, he was back home after so long... and they had a house fuller than full. Though Sasuke wasn't the most intimate of men, he certainly had his moments when they were alone... But, she just had a feeling things wouldn't be going as she'd like with their current house guests hanging around.

"I'm going for a shower." He muttered as he stood and turned his back to her. "Come." He then ordered, and Sakura knew better than to defy him then and there, so she led the way.

Sasuke was a quiet man, so normally it wouldn't occur to anyone to worry when he was silent, but as soon as they were in the master bedroom of the rented apartment and he began discarding his clothes slowly, without so much as glancing at her and not daring to utter a word, Sakura knew he was really upset.

They hadn't seen each other in so long... but, she knew Sasuke. She understood him better than anyone, with the exception of Naruto. It had been so long, and yet nothing had changed between them. Sakura knew well enough how glad he must have been to be home, if only for a while. He'd certainly missed her, and Sarada of course. But, he'd have to want some alone time with her, just as much as she wanted it with him.

A part of her felt like it may have been a mistake taking on those kids, but the majority of her just felt like it was the right thing to do. She didn't intend to do it forever, but she wanted to help them grow and understand life and love and happiness. Things she knew would be all too new to them all.

"Darling, I-"

"Don't." Sasuke cut her off curtly, having taken his time to remove all his clothes, other than his undershorts. Sakura wasn't even in the mood to enjoy the sight at the moment, which would have disappointed her greatly had she not already been so disapoointed.

She looked down in her depressed state, chewing the inside of her cheek as she thought over what she could say or do to make things better, to smooth things over. She had nothing. But after a thick and drawn out silence, Sasuke sighed.

"The last thing I want you to do is apologize to me... I'm not mad at you, Sakura."

This surprised her, and slowly, she raised her eyes back to his head which was now facing her. "Really?"

"Really." He nodded once before taking her hand. "But I do not like those bastards." He added seriously, and his words made her giggle. "But let's forget them for now. Come, shower with me."

Sakura wasn't about to turn him down. Not in a million years.

...

The days were flying by, Sakura assumed it was because Sasuke had stayed home longer than she was sure he intended. Though one enemy had been taken care of, the main reason for his mission was still unconvered, and she knew he'd be going again soon. Still, even if it was these Shins keeping him around, she didn't care... as long as he was there.

One thing was certain, those kids were not growing on Sasuke like they were her and Sarada. No, he was often too annoyed by them, or even lashing out at them, especially when they'd be so rude to him... and they were adament about their dislike of Sasuke.

Sometimes Sakura felt that it was jealousy on both of their parts. Sasuke did not like her spending so much time with the orphaned children, and the Shins didn't like when Sasuke was around, they made sure he knew it too.

It would be times when she was finally alone, thinking she was free to a moment of peace. Now, she did care for the kids, that much was true... but, they could be a handful, especially with so many of them around. So, she rather enjoyed any time she had a moment to herself, long enough to sit and read or even watch TV, which wasn't really her thing. She definitely preferred a good read.

Like today, she'd given each of the Shins seperate chores and while Sarada was at the Academy, and Sakura was taking a break from the hospital, she was glad to sit on the couch, open a book and not worry about anything else until it was time to cook dinner.

Her clothes were being hung by one Shin, while another was busy dusting the entire apartment, and the rest of them were doing odd jobs as well. She sighed with a smile on her face as she started to read. However, she wasn't one sentence in before Sasuke returned from having gone to see Naruto for a bit and she closed her book immediately to give him a soft smile as he sat next to her on the couch.

"Have fun with Naruto?" She asked sweetly. Kami only knew how happy she really was to have him around. She missed her husband more than he'd ever know, more than she could even believe she'd handled over the years.

"I can't believe how far behind he is on his work." Sasuke shook his head then as he scooted closer to her. Close enough to make her skin crawl in a familiar way.

"Mama look, flowers."

Both of them jumped apart at the sudden voice just before them. It was one of the Shins, with a handful of flowers straight out of the garden, roots and all. Sakura's fist clenched and though she knew he was just trying to be nice, she almost lost her temper then. Those kids were always doing this, trying to make the kindest gestures but failing miserably in the oddest of ways. It was mostly annoying that they had a way of always interrupting her and Sasuke when they were alone. She was starting to feel like it was definitely premeditated.

"Thanks, but why don't you go and plant them once more, hm?"

"Okay, plant them for Mama." He said quickly and she didn't miss the cold glare he gave Sasuke on his way out, though she would have never mentioned it.

"Still not tired of them yet?" Sasuke teased, drawing closer to Sakura once more.

She laughed lightly then as she leaned into him, resting her head in the crook of his neck. "They're just kids, Darling."

"Tch. Whatever."

A loud crash sounded off in the kitchen area, causing them to seperate once more with a start. "Ooh, I'm telling Mama..."

"No it's fine. I fix."

With a sigh, Sakura only held her hand to her forehead and laughed. It could only get better, she was sure of it.

Sasuke would have disagreed.

...

"Mama, look!"

Today Sakura had been with Sasuke, checking on the progress of the Uchiha house rebuild. Sarada was once again at the academy, and of course all of the Shins had tagged along with them because Sakura had to keep a close eye one them... or else.

Everything was going smoothly, but they'd been lingering and chatting with the workers there for a bit, while letting the kids run around the area. But when Sakura turned to look at the one who'd called her, and noticed the dead bird in his hands, she nearly fainted. She did wobble a bit, but Sasuke was quick to wrap a supportive arm around her back.

"No, Shin!" She scolded him quietly, but frowned as soon as his face fell. He didn't understand, none of them knew much of anything, but sometimes it was hard to deal with them. Even if she was growing to care about them more and more. "I'm sorry, it's just not sanitary to handle dead animals. Okay?"

With a sad look on his face, he nodded as if he understood and Sakura sighed. "Now, go put it back where you found it and let's head home. You need to wash up after that."

"Okay Mama..."

Sakura glanced at Sasuke as the Shin wandered off, only to catch him rolling his eyes.

...

"That does it."

Sakura sighed that night as she lay in bed, alone now that Sasuke had gotten up to deal with the Shins that never seemed to sleep a wink. They came to the bedroom endlessly, with one problem or another and always seemed to interrupt at the worst of times. It was annoying, even to Sakura.

As Sasuke stormed his way out of the room to confront the latest one, who'd just walked in on them during an intimate moment, Sakura rolled on her side facing away from the door and groaned. Why was Kami turning against her so, when she was only trying to be a good person and help these kids out. She really wasn't sure how much more she could take. Her and her own feelings were one thing, but to have Sasuke constantly annoyed by them... it just made her feel bad.

After a few minutes he came back in, slamming the door closed behind himself. Sakura already knew he was angry. His footsteps were loud, his breathing was accelerated and he was obviously brooding, she didn't even have to look at him to tell it.

"Tomorrow, they're going back to join the others at the orphanage." Sasuke grumbled as he got back in bed and pulled her to him, her back against his front.

"What? But-"

"No buts, damn it." Sasuke snapped quietly. "I refuse to put up with those conniving little bastards any longer and I want them gone before I'm gone again."

"Sending them away like that might do more harm than good." Sakura argued, though she didn't make a move.

"Good for us, so I don't care."

"You're over reacting." Sakura sighed.

"No I'm not. It's been an endless hassle with those things around, and I will not be leaving you and my daughter alone with them. Sorry, not sorry. They're getting the hell out of here."

Sakura glared at the wall ahead of her, but she knew it would be fruitless to argue with him on the matter, so she dropped it.

...

It was the very next day that she and Sasuke took the Shins to the orphange which was ran by Kabuto. Sakura was sad to see them go, but she was certain they'd still be well taken care of and besides... her husband and her daughter mattered mose of all, and she wasn't about to ruin her relationship with Sasuke over them. Things had been getting too tense and uncomfortable to ignore them any longer. She was sure it was best for everyone for the Shins and the Uchiha to go their seperate ways.

"No. Stay with Mama." They whined, while all of them clung to Sakura at once.

"I'm sorry. You will have to stay here from now on, okay? Don't worry though, I'll visit often."

They looked at her sadly while Sasuke made a disapproving grunt, but she wouldn't deny the kids that at least, and she was sure Sasuke wouldn't really mind in the long run. She honestly felt bad for abandoning the kids, even if they would be okay without her. Sakura enjoyed feeling needed, and she loved helping people, especially kids.

"Oh they'll be just fine here, not to worry." Kabuto assured them, and Sasuke snatched Sakura by the hand with such force she was yanked into the air and next thing she knew, she was across his shoulder with him holding her in place.

"Good, we're out of here." Sasuke muttered before walking through the glaring Shins with a tight hold on his wife.

All Sakura could do was laugh. Sasuke was literally running off with her, and wanting her all too himself. She didn't bother fighting him, she just waved to the kids until they were out of sight and the whole time she had the stupidest of grins on her face. She would never admit it to Sasuke, but the quite liked this jealous, over protective and easily annoyed side of him.

She loved all kids, but nothing was more important to her than her own family... and her husband... well, that was her Sasuke.


A/N:

Thanks for reading!