Tsunade squinted at the motley group of men and children assembled in front of her and then looked at her apprentice. "Who did you say they were?"

Sakura braced herself. "Survivors of Orochimaru." She had thought long and hard about how to introduce Takeshi, Hayato and their children. She didn't want to belittle their suffering or condescend to them, so she decided on using as few words as possible to describe their family. "They're seeking asylum in Konoha, on my recommendation."

Naruto chimed in almost as soon as she finished speaking. "And mine."

Tsunade just gave Sakura a thousand yard stare and she struggled not to fidget under her mentor's gaze. The dark-haired little girl in Takeshi's arms was sniffling in the oppressive silence. His impassive face was at odds with the careful way he cradled her against his shoulder. Tsunade finally sighed and opened up her desk drawer. The newcomers tensed, but she just pulled out sake and drank it straight from the bottle. "Sakura, you are going to be the death of me. You and your idiot teammate."

Sakura grinned, knowing she had won the battle. All without having to dodge a single projectile! Miracles did happen after all. "I'm sure you'll outlive us all, shishou."

Tsunade snorted and looked at the two men who were still standing frozen against the far wall. "Well? We have to get all the official crap out of the way before I can give you your hitai-ates. I assume you're competent enough to be tested?"

Takeshi huffed, offended. "We do all right for ourselves."

"He speaks! I can see Sakura has managed to find herself another prickly bastard to adopt." Sakura frowned while Naruto snickered at her misfortune. Kakashi had the grace to at least muffle his laughter with a cough. Tsunade looked at her apprentice questioningly. "Did you even think about where your new puppies are going to live?"

She shrugged. "I'm going to strong-arm that other prickly bastard out of some space at his compound. It will do him good to have company around."

Shikamaru saw Naruto shoot her an indecipherable look which she returned with one of her own and the blonde settled back on his heels, satisfied.

Shikamaru had made the mistake of mentioning what he had seen the day before they had been assigned to the retrieval mission and she had squeezed every detail out of his poor beleaguered brain. Why she wanted to know what the breeze was like and how Sasuke's face looked when they got caught was not something he wanted to contemplate. He had been so relieved to see her that he would have told her anything at all to make her happy.

Shikamaru wanted to touch her, just to establish that she was solid and present and here, but he maintained his distance. If he got too close, he would forget where he was and pull her into his arms and that would be embarrassing for everyone.

So it was a struggle for him not to react when she hooked her arm through his and dragged him over to speak with Takeshi. Hayato took the lead in doing the paperwork with Tsunade to start with their integration into the village. Shikamaru didn't protest the way Sakura man-handled him over to her new friends, though he did frown when Takeshi grinned at him mockingly.

"All tied up with her, aren't you?" Before he could retort, Sakura bopped Takeshi on the head, careful of the child still in his arms. "Ah! What the hell?"

She waved a finger in his face. "None of that, you. Use some other time to tease Shikamaru for his excellent taste in women."

Takeshi made a sound of disbelief. "You're unbelievable." He looked at Shikamaru with pity. "My condolences, man."

He shrugged, not at all concerned. "Somehow, I'll manage."

Sakura muttered under her breath, "Men!" She then turned away from them and smiled at the children who had been waiting very patiently during the bewildering meeting. "Are you guys ready to see your new house?" The kids all smiled back at her, having already been charmed by her gentle teasing and careful bedside manner while they were sick.

Takeshi squinted at her. "We can't afford a house, Sakura-san. Once we start taking missions, it will be easier, but …"

She waved her hand. "Pft. And where are your kids going to stay until then? You're just lucky that I know someone who has ownership of many empty houses."

Shikamaru could physically feel her plotting. It was getting to be a sixth sense, something he dreaded and loved about her. "You're not really going to ask the Uchiha, are you?"

Sakura's eyes sparkled. "Ask? Of course not."

She pushed open the heavy doors with little effort and waved her hands around with a flourish. "Welcome to the Uchiha Compound!"

Shikamaru blinked. The trees and the grass actually looked maintained and the houses, while aged, were still presentable. This area had been sealed off for so many years, he had expected to see everything in disrepair. "He's been busy."

Sakura shrugged. "I suggested he find a hobby. Apparently he's picked carpentry and landscaping." Shikamaru struggled to reconcile this image with the Uchiha Sasuke he knew and found it incomprehensible.

She didn't move them further into the compound and Takeshi was starting to get anxious being in the open with no information. "What are you waiting for?"

"Sakura, what the hell." Sasuke had appeared before them as if out of thin air, the seals on his chakra clearly having no effect on his speed. He glared daggers at the strangers and the younger children huddled close to Takeshi and Jinta.

"Sasuke-kun! Nice to see you too. Glad you missed me ever so much while I was gone." She stared at him challengingly. To Shikamaru's surprise, he just sighed and his posture eased minutely.

"Hello, Sakura. How are you? I'm glad you're home." Sasuke recited the words in an insincere monotone. "What the hell are you doing here?"

She nodded, strangely satisfied with his compliance to social niceties. "We have some new arrivals in Konoha. A family who have, until recently, been guests of our favorite Sannin." Sasuke's face twitched at the mention, but he said nothing, waiting for her to continue. "I just knew you would want to be the first to offer them sanctuary."

Takeshi was staring between the two of them, not understanding the conversational dynamic. "Uh, what's going on, Sakura-san?"

She patted his arm distractedly, not taking her eyes off Sasuke. "Nothing to worry about, Takeshi. My friend here is the one I mentioned earlier. Lots of space for the kids." Sasuke's face twitched again at her emphasis and then he nodded once.

Sakura grinned triumphantly and he huffed in irritation, turning on his heel. Over his shoulder he said, "There's a suitable house at the end of the main path. I will take you there." He walked off without glancing back to see if they would follow, arrogant as always.

Sakura just rolled her eyes and scooped up the blonde toddler, placing her bundle into Shikamaru's surprised arms. The child stared at him unnervingly while he attempted to figure out how to hold it without making a fool of himself.

Sakura just laughed at Shikamaru's panicked efforts and lifted a boy with shockingly white curly hair into a piggyback, to his great delight. He threw his arms around her neck and held on, beaming. "Not too tight, Toshio. I need to breathe, you know."

She took off after Sasuke and the rest of the kids followed her like ducklings, Jinta with his sister on his back and the twins racing alongside. Takeshi and Shikamaru were both left standing there with small children in their arms.

Takeshi shifted the little girl onto his hip. "What just happened? Did she just win us a house with a staring contest?"

Unable to compress Sakura's weird and uncomfortable team history into a single conversational topic, Shikamaru just went with it. "Basically."

Takeshi sighed and then started after Sakura and his wayward children. "Your girlfriend is scary."

Shikamaru looked down at the child in his arms, who had not uttered a sound and grimaced. "You have no idea."

They caught up to the group quickly and Shikamaru nudged Sakura with his shoulder. "Why this?" He raised his arms slightly, indicating the toddler who had nestled into his flak vest comfortably.

"You didn't expect Jun to just walk there alone, did you?"

"No, but I imagine Toshio could have." The boy on her back stuck his tongue out at him.

Sakura grinned at him mischievously. "Think of it as practice, darling." She laughed and walked ahead to speak to Sasuke while Shikamaru was left choking on his own spit.

Takeshi eyed him with pity for the second time that day, but didn't say anything. Instead he stared at Jun, who was strangely content to stay attached to Shikamaru for the walk. "Jun has never taken to strangers well, you know. He seems to like you."

Shikamaru looked down at the mess of blonde hair. "Ah, so Jun is a boy."

Takeshi shrugged. "Maybe."

"What? How do you not know?"

"Jun can be whatever he wants, but until he decides to speak, that's what Hayato and I are going with."

Shikamaru felt entirely out of his depth. He looked longingly at Sakura's back, wishing she would rescue him from the conversation instead of playfully antagonizing her former teammate. "Decides to speak?"

Takeshi's tone was falsely casual. "Jun hasn't really made a sound since we've met. I don't know what happened to him while he was in Orochimaru's … care." Shikamaru could see that Sasuke had heard the name by the way his shoulders tensed, though he continued to speak to Sakura as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

Jun let out a puff of breath against his vest and played with the pockets with a single-minded intent of retrieving the contents. "Joke's on you, kid. I don't keep anything in there." Jun ignored him and continued with his exploration.

They finally came to a stop in front of a large traditional house, where Sakura was attempting to place her hands on Sasuke's face, much to his obvious consternation. Shikamaru caught the tail end of their conversation. "-away for weeks! I just want to check, Sasuke-kun!"

"I have an appointment tomorrow. Stop."

She batted away his protests and placed her glowing hands on his temples, assessing him. Shikamaru could feel his stomach clench at the ease with which she touched the Uchiha. He kept his thoughts to himself, though he saw Takeshi give him a curious look before focusing his attention on the house.

"This is huge. Are you sure it's okay we stay here?" He shifted the girl in his arms and she craned her neck to stare up at the house with big eyes.

Sakura spoke for Sasuke after she stepped away from him, satisfied with his current condition. "Of course it is. There are nine of you, after all." She smiled at the children surrounding them and Toshio nearly glowed with happiness. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Of course the kid has a huge crush on her. "And once you're settled, you can decide whether or not you want to them to attend to the Academy."

Sasuke gave her an unreadable look. "As former guests of that man, I'd be surprised if any of them didn't become shinobi."

Sakura's expression was not one Shikamaru had ever seen on her face. Was it bitterness that tinged her grim smile? "That is entirely up to the kids and their parents, Sasuke-kun. Not everyone has to be what we are, no matter their given talents."

He didn't reply, choosing instead to unlock the door to the house. Sakura rolled her eyes and stomped up the front steps, with the rest of them following suit.

Sasuke stood awkwardly in the middle of the large front room. "This is it. The bedrooms are through that door. Kitchen in there."

Takeshi smiled, an action that transformed his face into something ruggedly handsome. "Thank you, uh, Sasuke-san?" He looked at Sakura reproachfully. "Sakura-san didn't actually introduce us."

Sasuke snorted in what could have been amusement. "She's spent too much time with that idiot. Propelling herself into everything head first."

Sakura just sighed, accepting the insults as her due. "Yes, yes. Uchiha Sasuke, this is Takeshi." She then pointed to the children and named them off in rapid succession, "And these are his children. Junta and Toshio are the oldest." The white-haired boy smiled as she said his name; Shikamaru didn't think he had ever seen a different expression on the his face when Sakura was around.

She then pointed to the red-haired girl and the two pale, dark-haired twin boys. "Chie, Keigo and Akira. Shikamaru is holding Jun and Takeshi has Rinko. His partner Hayato is still with Tsunade-shishou, dealing with all the horrible paperwork that comes with moving to a hidden village."

Jun had turned around in Shikamaru's arms and was staring directly at Sasuke with an unhappy look on his face. He felt himself begin to like the kid despite himself.

Sasuke's voice was just as flat as his expression. "Pleasure to meet you." He raised an eyebrow at Sakura. "May I go now?"

She huffed, but grinned at him teasingly. "Go and be a hermit. I'll tell Naruto where to find you." Sasuke's mouth formed a thin line and to Shikamaru's utter astonishment, there was a hint of a blush on his high cheekbones. He was nearly out of the house when Sakura called after him cheerfully, "Don't think I won't ask tomorrow, Sasuke-kun!"

He shuddered and left, nearly slamming the door in his hurry. Jun shifted in Shikamaru's arms now that Sasuke was out of the room, choosing to reach up and play with the stud in his left ear. He looked at his girlfriend balefully. "You are way too invested in their relationship, Sakura."

She shrugged. "I just want my boys to be happy. The details are a bonus." Sakura winked at him lasciviously and then turned to Takeshi, who had placed Rinko on a nearby futon to nap. "You can stay here and get acquainted with the house, Shikamaru and I will do some grocery shopping for you guys."

Takeshi frowned and immediately protested. "You don't have to do that, Sakura-san. Hayato and I will figure it out ourselves."

"I'm the one who dragged you all the way to Konoha, it's the least I can do."

The man stared at her, wide-eyed. "The least? We have a house. I can't even remember the last time I slept in one." He rubbed his faced tiredly.

She patted his shoulder gently. "Well, get used to it. Naruto and I did promise, after all. And he really, really hates breaking promises."

Shikamaru muttered to himself, "That's an understatement." He tried to put Jun down on the same futon as Rinko, but the toddler was having none of it. He struggled to carefully detach the determined boy from his vest, not noticing Takeshi and Sakura watching in amusement. He looked up to see them staring at him and frowned. "A little help would be appreciated."

Takeshi put his arms out to aid him, but Sakura waved him off. "We could take Jun grocery shopping, if you trust us with him. It wouldn't be any trouble." Shikamaru thought it would be plenty of trouble, but said nothing.

The man grinned at him. "I've never seen Jun so attached to anyone. Quite literally."

Sakura dragged him out the door, toddler still in tow. "Great! We'll let Hayato and Naruto know where you're staying, okay? Be back in no time!" She waved at the kids and they were nearly outside the compound before he knew it.

"You know, I was looking forward to finally getting you alone." Jun had continued his fascination with Shikamaru's earrings. "But not quite like this."

Sakura had stopped him with a hand on his arm and leaned up to quickly kiss him, giggling when Jun huffed at her. "Let's just avoid Yoshino-san seeing us with Jun, huh?"

Shikamaru felt queasy. "Don't even say such things. We're already half-way married in her mind."

Sakura just ran her fingers through her short hair and laughed while they made their way back to the Hokage Tower. "What's marriage but a piece of paper? I don't need that."

He tried not to sound surprised when he said, "That's a big change from when we were kids."

She waggled a finger at him. "Ah, but when we were kids, I wanted to marry Sasuke-kun. Clearly I was wrong about many things." She hummed thoughtfully. "You know, Konoha laws on marriage aren't particularly specific, considering. They could do it if they wanted to."

Shikamaru felt like he was missing a piece of the conversation. "What?"

"Takeshi and Hayato. Or Naruto and Sasuke-kun, when they're ready."

He was disgruntled, but wasn't quite sure why. "So it's okay for them to get married, but not you?"

She glanced at him in astonishment. "Well, yeah. Kids change the whole game plan. You need to make legal arrangements for them, just in case. Our jobs aren't exactly safe."

"Naruto and Sasuke don't have kids, Sakura."

"They could if they wanted. You know it's still Sasuke-kun's goal. I have been doing some research on Naruto's sexy no jutsu and I think-" she opened the door to Tsunade's office and nearly ran into the subject of their conversation. "Whoa! Sorry." She peered around him to see Hayato bowing to Tsunade and Shizune, a happy smile on his face. "All done?"

Naruto grinned at her. "Yup! They are officially Konoha shinobi now. Hayato has their hitai-ate. Kakashi-sensei is in charge of testing them later this week to determine their ranks."

Sakura smiled happily. "I'm so glad everything worked out!" She hugged Hayato when he wandered over to join them. "Welcome to Konoha!"

"Thank you, Sakura-san." He eyed Shikamaru curiously. "Why is Jun with you?"

She smirked. "Seems like Shikamaru has a new admirer." Naruto snorted and clasped his hands behind his head, looking highly amused.

Shikamaru ignored them all. "Sakura and I are just here to tell you where you can find Takeshi and the rest of your brood."

Naruto glanced at his teammate. "Did you-?"

She was still smirking. "You know I did."

He laughed loudly and pulled her into a fierce hug. "You're the best, Sakura-chan."

She returned his hug with a bone-grinding fervor. "Yep."

Hayato just looked bewildered. "Where are my children, exactly?"

Naruto just grabbed his arm and tugged him out of the office. "Come on, I'll show you." He waved good-bye to Sakura and Shikamaru.

Sakura just called out to a still confused Hayato, "We'll bring Jun back home soon, don't worry!"

She smiled at Shikamaru, who had long resigned himself to her eccentricities. "Ready?"

Sakura and Shikamaru walked together in companionable silence after they left Takeshi and Hayato's new home, having dropped off both Jun and the food. Thankfully, the toddler had fallen asleep on their way back from the marketplace, so it was much easier to separate him from his person the second time around.

Shikamaru had slid his arm around her shoulders almost immediately after leaving and just pulled her closer when she laughed. "What's so funny?"

"I can't believe I went on a quarantine mission and came back with an entire family."

By habit, they had found themselves in the Nara Forest again and settled by their usual tree to look at the sunset and then the stars starting to shine in the night sky. Shikamaru pulled her back up against his chest and held her close, like he had the very first time they had met out here. "Uchiha was right, you know. You're picking up Naruto's bad habits."

She made an amused sound and leaned into him happily. "Dear diary, today Shikamaru and Sasuke-kun agreed on something …"

He tugged on her hair playfully. "Troublesome woman. Do you know how worried we were? And there you were, playing drill sergeant to bunch of missing-nin."

Sakura tipped her head back and kissed the underside of his chin. "I'm sorry you were worried. But I'm not sorry for what I did."

He sighed and just pulled her closer to him. "I know. You wouldn't be Sakuraif you didn't care too much about everyone." They sat in silence for several long moments, looking at the stars. He finally allowed all the anxiety and questions and worry to buzz through his system now that she was in his arms again. Now seemed to be a good time. "Move in with me."

"Uh, what?"

He buried his face in her hair and mumbled it again. "Move in with me. I want to be able to see you every day after you get home from the hospital or missions or whatever crazy shenanigans you and Naruto get into."

Sakura vibrated with laughter in his hold. "What is with you and saying this stuff to the back of my head?"

He didn't move. "Is that a no?"

She hummed thoughtfully. "Actually, yeah. It is a no." His arms stiffened around her as worry began to pool in the bottom of his stomach. Did she not want to have more than a casual relationship? Is that why she had brought up marriage earlier? She patted his knee patronizingly. "Calm down, I can almost hear the gears churning in that big brain of yours. You still live with your parents. Why don't you move in with me?"

Shikamaru's breath left him in a rush, moving wispy strands of her hair that tickled his nose. "You could have just said that. You're a cruel person, Sakura."

"Nonsense. That's part of my charm."

"Mmm, debatable. I still love you, regardless." She turned in his arms and smiled at him so genuinely that he felt his heart skip a beat. He leaned forward to capture her lips, slowly, reverently, no longer able to resist.

When Sakura had to pull back for lack of air, she whispered to him breathlessly, "Let's go home."

note: if you squint a little, something sort of happens? one day i'll actually write the sex that takes place.