Naruto's P.O.V.

Roughly 7 years later

"I still don't understand why we have to take him in."

"Suigetsu is incarcerated too, Karin is in med school in the Sound Village, Juugo fled the country, and he and Itachi are estranged, he has no one else."

"Over crowding and good behavior, this is ridiculous. He didn't even serve half of his sentence."

"But he served almost seven years, he's been locked up for a long time."

"When was the last time you visited him, or spoke on the phone?" Three years ago, maybe four.

"It's been a long time." And a lot has happened. Immediately after my single term as Mayor, I was elected as a Senator. Yeah, me, barely thirty years old and I'm a Senator. I guess the people still like me even after the whole scandal. I tried to visit him in prison, went every time they would let me for the first two years or so, but then he was transferred to a prison upstate after the Akatsuki tried to have him killed for ratting on them. After that it got harder and harder to visit him, and I had to just move on with my life. Miko writes him every week, she has a picture of him on her nightstand, she writes letters to him and sends pictures, she's still innocent and naive, she has no idea what her father did, and I'm not going to ruin her image of him. I however have moved on, or tried to at least.

I got married, two years ago...to Neji. We had a lot of late nights working together, hate turned to forgiveness, forgiveness turned to friendship, friendship turned to love. He was there for me when I needed him. He provided stability and it was good for the campaign. Sometimes it feels like a business deal, but at least I know he's not going behind my back and threatening international security. No I'm not totally over what Sasuke did, it still hurts. I can't even pretend like I'm over it, I may have forgave him in the beginning, stood by his side as he went through the trials, but everyday I see Mikoshina growing up without him, the fact that I have to raise her alone, it kills me. Even more so that he lied to me about what he was doing every single day we were together, leading me to believe that we had the perfect life. I just couldn't do it anymore. So I just sort of… stopped seeing him. He knew it was coming and I did too. I just couldn't put mine and Mikoshina's life on hold waiting for him to get out, like he's magically just going to come back and be perfect again. I had to move on, it's what Mikoshina deserves. But now he's getting out of prison, eight years early. I wasn't ready for this, I was no where near ready for this.

"Are you ready?"

"Not really."

"We can drive off right now, leave him here on the side of the road, you have no obligation to help him out. None Naruto."

"He's Mikoshina's father, she deserves to get to know him. Come one, lets just get this over with." I said getting out of the passengers seat of Neji's Bentley. He got out of the car too and took my hand, there were paparazzi everywhere, trying to capture Sasuke and I's first moment as he's released from prison. It was sickening. Neji and I walked hand in hand into the prison and waited for his release. After a few minutes of waiting, I saw him off in the distance going through release procedures. They unlocked his cuffs, handed him a bag of his stuff and made him sign some paperwork. He came out of the room behind the counter, walked through one more metal detector and had one last pat down before he was released, standing right in front of me maybe forty feet away. He hasn't aged a day. His hair was a little longer, and wasn't its usual silky glory, he had a short beard now, a lot of stubble. His shoulders were broader, stronger. That may have been the biggest change in him; he was absolutely ripped. Prison may have been very good to him in that aspect.

"Sasuke."

"Naruto." I gave him a hug, I don't know why but I did. As we pulled away he grabbed my cheeks. "You've changed so much, you cut your hair."

"I can't say the same to you, what did you do find the fountain of youth in there?" I said running my hand across the side of his face. Man seeing him with facial hair is weird.

"I wouldn't know, there weren't many mirrors in there. Neji, hey man, it's good to see a familiar face." He said softly, offering Neji his hand.

"Sasuke, it's good to see you. You look well." Neji said returning the handshake.

"I'm a whole lot better now that I'm on this side of the bars."

"I'll go get the car." Neji said before kissing me on the cheek and going outside.

"I saw on the news you got married, that's good, you're moving on." He said looking down.

"I'm happy, it's a good thing." I reassured. "Mikoshina is excited to see you, she baked a cake this morning with my mom, I told her you didn't like sweets, but she insisted."

"I can't believe she's eight years old now." Almost nine.

"Yeah, time flies."

"Not in there, it crawls." Neji pulled up in the car.

"We should get going."

"Alright." I got in the front seat next to Neji, Sasuke got in the back behind him. The paparazzi relentlessly took pictures the entire time.

"Anywhere you want to go Sasuke?" Neji asked as he pulled out of the parking lot and looked at him in his rear view mirror.

"I could really go for a burger."

"Yeah, of course, prison food must have been horrible." I said turning back to him.

"Fried vomit on a plate, and that was on good days." He said with a small chuckle. Man he's changed. He's so calm and attentive, actually answering our questions instead of that quiet sulk. It's strange seeing him like this. Could he really have gotten better in prison, dealt with his issues? Jiraiya did say he was going to a psychologist in there. We went to a nearby burger place and he wolfed four burgers and fries without even chewing it seemed.

"Wow, you really put those away." Neji said, more disgusted than anything.

"That was so good, I never knew how much I missed French fries." He said with a burp.

"Come on, let's get you home. Mikoshina should be home from school by now."

"Yeah, okay." We got back into the car and drove the hour drive back to the city and to our house.

"Man I knew the Hyuga's had money, but this? Wow." Sasuke said as he came in the door and literally touched every item in our entryway. We're living in Neji's dad's old mansion on Clan Road. Neji inherited it after his dad died. Well… was murdered. That's a long story I really don't want to get into. We did some remodeling, changed the carpet, the drapes, how we decided to decorate it, but it still feels like a branch Hyuga's house.

"Steal anything and I'll have you sent right back to prison." Neji said taking his coat off and handing it to our maid. Neji!

"You even have a maid, wow." He said looking around like a kid in a candy store.

"You'll be staying in the guest house on the north side of the property, it will be private and secluded from the main house." Neji went on to say and he led Sasuke around the kitchen, and the living room.

"Is he here? Is he here?" Mikoshina's voice came from upstairs.

"Yes, sweetheart, come on down." I said up to her. I heard some scuffling and things falling to the ground before the sound of her feet pattering across the hardwood floors and she sprinting down the stairs.

"Hey hey slow your roll speed racer." I laughed as she ran past me into the living room. She stopped dead in her tracks when her eyes landed on Sasuke. Sasuke turned to see her and dropped to his knees, eyes filling with tears.

"Mikoshina?"

"Daddy? Daddy!" She screamed running into his arms and jumping on him nearly tackling him to the ground. Sasuke looked like he was never going to let go of her, she looked like she felt the same way. He picked her up and spun her around kissing her over and over and over again.

"I wrote you every Thursday, just like I promised, did you get my letters? Look, look! I lost another tooth. The tooth fairy gave me twenty bucks! Oh and look look look here's my report card, I got all A's just like dad said you used to get." She said dragging Sasuke to the fridge to see her report card. She really wants to impress him.

"Wow, that's really good Mikoshina." Sasuke said hugging her again.

"She loves math, if only we could do something about her talking in the middle of class." I said poking her stomach lovingly.

"I'm sorry dad, I just can't sit still while the teacher goes on and on. It's so boring!" Sasuke laughed at his daughter's sassiness.

"See how she does me? Won't stop talking for a minute, I swear." I said to Sasuke with a chuckle.

"Can I show Daddy Sasuke my room? I cleaned it just for him, oh please please please please please?" She whined.

"Is that okay?" I asked Sasuke.

"Of course, I'd love to see your room Miko."

"Hooray! Come on Daddy Sasuke, you have to see my violin, it's so pretty, I even got the bow dyed purple cause that's my favorite color!" She chit chatted as she took Sasuke up the stairs. Neji came over to me and wrapped his arms around my stomach, giving me a bare hug from behind. I snuggled into his embrace, it made me feel a little better about this whole situation.

"He seems calmer than he used to be, prison really changed him."

"Did you see how Miko reacted to him? I thought she'd be all shy."

"She reacts that way to everyone new, when she finally realizes he wasn't there for the better part of her life, it will change."

"Do you think he'll be okay, being here and everything? It can't be easy for him."

"He'll adjust. I have to go to a clan meeting, there's left over curry in the fridge, but seeing as Sasuke seems to be a bottomless pit when food is concerned, you can order out if you have to. Please don't let Mikoshina go to bed late just because Sasuke's here. She does have school in the morning."

"I know, I know."

"And only a small piece of cake, you don't need her bouncing off the walls all evening."

"Yes sir." I said turning around and kissing him. His hand traveled down as he continued to kiss me, pushing his erection into my pelvis.

"Maybe tonight." I said breaking the kiss.

"Maybe tonight... don't forget to take your-"

"I won't. I love you."

"I love you too." He said kissing me one more time and walking out of the house. A few minutes later Sasuke and Miko came down, Miko dragging him to the kitchen all excited.

"Daddy Sasuke is gonna try my cake! Gram Gram helped me make it! It has chocolate with sprinkles! Dad can we try it, please?"

"Yes Miko, but you're going to wear Daddy out, he's been through a lot." I said getting some plates.

"No it's okay, I haven't seen my daughter in seven years, she can wear me out all she wants." He said picking her up and helping her cut the cake.

"Here try it daddy." She said putting a forkful into Sasuke's mouth. Well, it's still Sasuke; he can't stand sweets. He tried to smile as he chewed, but I knew he wanted nothing more than to spit it out and wash his mouth out in the sink.

"Mmm delicious." Liar.

"Can I show you the guest house where you'll be staying? I wanted you to stay in the guest room upstairs across the hall from me, but Daddy Neji said you'd be happier in the guest house."

"Daddy Neji?" He looked at me, I shrugged, it's not like he was there to state otherwise. And Neji is more her father than you've ever been. In fact he's a great father, loves and treats her like she's his.

"Come on Daddy!" She said wiggling out of his grasp and running down the hallway that lead to the guesthouse.

"She has a lot of energy." Sasuke said as we followed her.

"Just like me when I was a kid, but she has your brain, she really is doing well in school."

"I can tell, she played betoven's fifth for me by heart on her violin."

"It was Neji's idea to get her music lessons, he hoped it would calm her down a little bit."

"Has it worked?"

"Not really, just gives him something else to be annoyed by." I said as we walked into the guest room. Mikoshina was jumping on the couch that folded out to the bed. It was a small one-room house with a kitchen and a bathroom. Neji's grandma lived here when she was still alive.

"It's not much, but there's a pretty big tv in that cabinet, even though the living room is also the bedroom, we had the maids stock the fridge and pantry last night, so you should be all set."

"Thank you for this Naruto, really."

"Your welcome Sasuke." He spent the rest of the evening playing with Mikoshina while I watched from a distance. He even read Miko a bedtime story, twice. After that we went our separate ways and I got ready for bed. I was just about to take my shot when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

"Hey, Naruto, do you have a razor I could borrow? The scruffy damaged look is great for prison, not so much the real world."

"Uh yeah, just give me a second." I said putting the needle down.

"Are you sick?"

"Oh that? No, no. It's uh fertility medicine, Neji and I are trying to conceive." I said shyly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were having fertility issues."

"We've been trying for almost a year and nothing. It just kinda sucks you know?" I said handing my ex fiancé a razor. Man it's weird having him here.

"Yeah, I get that. Thanks for this." He said taking the razor and walking out.

"Of course." Seven years. Sasuke was in jail for seven years and now he's staying with me, our daughter and my husband. This is so weird.