Epilogue

I won't forget
How lonely it can get
You're all I've got right now


It was 11:56 P.M., four minutes before Rihito's first birthday. Sakura sat next to his bed and watched him sleep. She couldn't believe that it had already been one year since he was born. The only thing that would have made the occasion better was if Kakashi were there to celebrate it as well.

She sighed softly and stroked Rihito's cheek. He stirred in his slumber. Slowly, his eyes peeked open and he yawned. His gaze focused on Sakura and he reached out for her.

"Only four more minutes until it's your birthday!" she sang softly. She picked him up and set him on her hip. One of his tiny hands pulled her hair and the other wrapped around the collar of her shirt—Kakashi's shirt; she had been wearing his shirts to bed every night since she returned home.

Rihito nuzzled his mother's neck, still half asleep. She knew he had picked up Kakashi's scent on the garment when his soft laughs stopped. He looked up at her and his brow furrowed as he pouted his lip. "Where's daddy?"

"Daddy is off fighting bad guys," she whispered. She hated lying to him, but for time being, it was for the best. It wasn't like he could understand what death was anyways. "He'll be back soon."

But he continued to pout. He had been given the same answer day after day for months now yet his father was still not home. And so he began to fuss and cry. He missed Kakashi just as much as Sakura missed him.

A low thump came from somewhere else in the house as Sakura tried to quite the child. She quickly pressed her hand over his mouth and said, "Quiet, Rihito." The child froze as his mother told him to. She quickly and silently went over to the closet and opened the door. "Hide and keep quiet. Do not come out until I say so."

With Rihito taken care of, Sakura grabbed the hidden kunai she kept hidden behind his dresser and crept out into the hallway, closing the door after her. She heard another thump fallowed by the sound of something being dragged across the floor. She waited by the foot of the stairs. Whoever the intruder was, they were right around the corner.

She swiftly stepped around the corner and was about to throw the kunai but she froze. In the dim light shining through the window she could just make out the man's face. "Ka–Kakashi?"

"Sorry… it took so long… for me to return," he struggled to say. She dropped the kunai and instantly wrapped her arms around him. Tears began spilling from her eyes because she was so overjoyed that he was actually alive. "Can't, breath," he choked.

She immediately loosened her grip around him and pulled back enough to see his face. "How the hell are you still alive?"

"Do you really think it's that easy to kill me?" His voice was rough and feint. It was a wonder that he could talk—it was a wonder that he could still move! Sakura helped prop him against the wall so he wouldn't collapse to the floor. "Besides, I wouldn't want to miss my son's first birthday, would I?"

That reminded her that he was still hiding. She smiled and turned back towards the stairs. "Rihito!" she called. "It's okay, you can come out now. And come downstairs. I have a present for you."

The halls filled with the fast trampling of little feet as the boy practically flew down the stairs. "Present!" he sang as he rounded the corner. For a second, all the joy in his expression vanished when he saw Kakashi. But it quickly returned as the boy threw himself at him and wrapped his arms around his neck. "Daddy!"

He laughed and limply hugged him back. "Happy birthday, Rihito. Sorry I've been gone so long."


Only love can bring us home

[A/N: Did you really think I would kill off Kakashi =) lol. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed it!]