Sakura….

Kakashi sat up after finally giving up on any chance of sleep that night. The fire crackled slightly as it started to go out. It would be dawn in a few hours so there was no point in trying to get anymore rest. It had been a three month long mission, all of his bandages and wounds showed that, and they were finally mere hours from home.

He hated to admit it to himself, but he had been pushing himself and his team hard to make it home. He missed Sakura, and he wanted to see how much his son had grown in just a few months. It was thoughts like that that had gotten him so banged up in the first place. He was exhausted and in pretty bad shape from the mission. He didn't like hospitals, but he knew he needed stitches for a couple of his wounds. Especially the very fresh knife wound in his shoulder. He highly doubted Sakura would want to patch him up in the comfort of his own home.

There was the fact that she would probably annihilate him if he tried to be friendly with the way he had treated her. It would probably take Sakura more time to even accept him as a close friend again. He was really cold to her when he left the village, but…

Kakashi could not come up with an excuse for being THAT cold. At the time it was the only thing he could think of. Some genius he was, he thought bitterly.

"Ookami-kun?" Kakashi turned to see that Usako had left her post duty to stand next to him. She wasn't wearing her mask and was gazing down at him curiously.

"Yes Usako-san?"

"There has been something I wanted to ask since we left the village."

Gods, here it came. He was just waiting for it…

"What's that?"

"Are you really THE Hatake Kakashi?" Kakashi sighed. It wasn't what he was expecting her to ask, but it was still troublesome. It was too late to cover his tracks now. How many Kakashi's lived in Konoha anyway?

"Yes-"

"Really?! Wow!- oh…" She quickly hushed her voice back down to a whisper to make sure not to wake the other two of their team. Kakashi eyed her warily as she smiled sweetly at him. "I remember hearing stories about you when I was in school."

"That's nice…" Kakashi tried to not to let the sarcasm drip from his voice. Why didn't she just say, "You are OLD."

"I can't believe I'm on this team with you, it's a dream come true."

"Yeah, dream come true. Too bad I am going to be leaving after this mission to go back to my team." Kakashi said, pulling off the fake smiling eye crease perfectly. He honestly was happy to be leaving Anbu. He had made plenty of money in the passed six months, and that was all he was in it for.

"You know…" Usako said, her voice getting a little husky as she spoke. "That is too bad. You could stay, if you wanted to, couldn't you?" She leaned into him a little bit causing Kakashi's mind to come to a screeching halt. He had been waiting for her major move on him that he hadn't actually thought about how he was going to deal with it. He also didn't think he would be a partial cripple at the time either. "I could make it worth while, staying on this team I mean…" She leaned into him even more, conveniently pushing her breast into his arm.

"I have a team already, Usako-san." He tried to emphasize the 'san' that he added to her name. She giggled and stroked his masked jaw line.

"I'm sure the offer to stay on this one is much more… attractive than returning to a formerly knocked up medic and being straddled with a baby that probably isn't even yours. I saw how you treated her; you want nothing to do with her. Why return to a team with a needy woman like that?" Her seduction routine wasn't working, though he froze in shock and stared at her, causing her to believe it was. She raised her face to his as she reached up with both hands, gently gripping his mask in the tips of her fingers.

She flinched when Kakashi's hands shot up and gripped her wrists tightly, causing her to release his mask.

"What's wrong?" Usako asked, but Kakashi furrowed his brow and glared at her.

"I don't know what impression you have of me, but it must be the wrong one. The only person who is allowed to take this mask off is Sakura."

"The medic?!"

"MY medic. Who is on MY team." Usako stared at him as he released her wrists.

"I don't get it… You rush off to see her when she is in labor, and then leave her in a heap at the village's gates, and now she is all of a sudden the only one with 'special privileges' with you." Kakashi was silent as Usako spoke; he was even tired of running the reasons why he couldn't be with Sakura through his mind. It was becoming almost a silent chant the entire length of his mission. She was all he thought about, and he was becoming bitter at the same monotonous verses he had down for why he couldn't be with her. The main one being that he didn't want to do the same thing his father did…

"If she is so great, and that really is your kid, then why did you dump her at the gate?"

Kakashi flinched a little. Realization struck him when Usako said that. He wasn't dead, he wasn't committing seppuku, but he was still putting Sakura through the same thing his father put his mother through.

"I'm more like my father than I thought..."

"What?" Usako asked quietly, but Kakashi just shook his head.

"Nothing… wake the others up, we aren't far from the village. If we leave now we can make it there a little after midday."

"I'm so sorry ; you won't have to watch Obito all the time. Just today Ino and I are bridesmaids, Sasuke is a groomsman, Naruto is getting married and Tsunade is officiating…"

"Don't you worry, sweetie. I have this watching grandchildren thing down. Obito is such a good baby too. I'm sure he will be perfectly good during the ceremony." Ino's mother cooed at Obito, which caused him to break out into a wide smile and giggle at her in reply. Sakura smiled and ran her hand through her son's fluffy white hair. It puffed out in odd directions just like his father's, and the notion that he was going to look like his father warmed her heart.

She had a beautiful boy, and she cherished him. Ino's mother was right about him being a good baby. He hardly ever cried, and always slept through the night. He was silent and took in his surroundings when he was in his stroller, as if imprinting every detail to memory. He was a little odd, but Sakura was proud that her son already seemed to be a little genius.

"I'm sorry we are late mom!" Ino said as she dashed into the door. "I will see you at the wedding; we just have to be there early to get ready." She said as Sasuke strode into the house behind her with a baby in his arms.

"You guys get going and I'll meet you all there. I've got these two." Ino grinned as she leaned down and kissed the baby's cheek in Sasuke's arms.

"You be a good girl for Grandma, Mikoto." Ino said sweetly to her.

Sasuke smirked a little at his daughter as he gently placed her in the crib next to Ino's mother. He unconsciously stroked the tiny black curls framing Mikoto's face as she smiled sweetly up at him.

"Be a good girl, Miko-chan." Ino smiled as she took Sasuke's hand in her own.

"Time to go, Sasuke."

"-Right…" Sasuke cleared his throat a little and tried to wipe the small smile off his face as he turned with Ino and headed for the door. Sakura smiled at the couple as they left the house.

*Flash back*

He was a little shocked; did Sakura just say it was a girl?

"You have a beautiful baby girl! Awww… look at her!" Sakura said as she took her back from Ino so she could clean her up and wrap her in a blanket. "You really had us going there little one, we were expecting a boy." Sakura said in a baby voice as she bundled her up in a pink blanket.

Sasuke was expecting a son. How could he continue his clan with out a son? He could only stand there in shock as Sakura walked up to him with his daughter.

"She is beautiful Sasuke, you can still have a son, but you can't get your first moments with your first born back if you blow it by being bummed she isn't a boy." Sakura whispered so quietly that Ino didn't hear her. She gently handed the baby over to a stunned Sasuke. He hadn't expected something like that to come out of Sakura, but ever since she had dove into the responsibilities of being a single mother she seemed to get a little more wise and empathetic. Sasuke looked down to see the little face staring groggily up at him. He reached to touch her hand and she gripped onto his pinky gently.

Sasuke was had at that moment.

Sakura wish she had a picture of the big dopey smile Sasuke had on his face when he looked down at the tiny pink bundle. He didn't look like the moody, brooding Sasuke she remembered as a young girl. He looked so happy he could have burst. He just let the little one grip his pinky as he continued to stare at her. The cheeriness on his face rivaled Naruto's at that moment.

"Mikoto…" Sasuke whispered. "I want her to be named Mikoto, after my mother."

*End Flash Back*

Obito blinked up at his mother and cooed quietly, breaking her from the memory of Mikoto's birth. She smiled once again and kissed his cheek.

"Aunt Ino is going to watch you this afternoon; I have a shift at the hospital tonight. I will pick you up tomorrow morning, Obi-chan."

"It's so cute when you talk to him like he understands." Ino's mother smiled and Sakura laughed.

"I think in an odd way he does understand."

Kakashi hated being hurt so badly it affected his motor skills. He didn't look very stealthy as he made his way to the top of the hill over looking Naruto's wedding. He didn't care though. He was thrilled he had gotten there in enough to watch the ceremony take place.

It was the first time he had even seen Naruto look so calm and serious without being in a fight. Well, Naruto was never calm in a fight.

Naruto just looked sincere the entire ceremony, and Hinata looked like a woman. Not the shy girl she used to be, but the beautiful woman she had become.

Kakashi couldn't help but shift his attention to the bridesmaids, well, one in particular.

Sakura looked like she had before she got pregnant, no, better. Her hair was longer and in loose curls framing her face. The long lavender dress she was wearing was form fitting enough to show she had definitely been determined enough to get back into shape. Though she hadn't really gained much weight while being pregnant so it must not have been that hard.

He had to fight the urge to walk down the hill to see her during the entire ceremony. He wanted to talk to her, touch her, and just be in her vicinity. Though in his condition it wouldn't be a good idea. He didn't think a head wound would be a good idea to add to all his other injuries. He needed time to decide what he was going to say.

That's the conclusion he came to right when the wedding ended and everyone began to slowly scatter. His eyes followed Sakura as she walked over to Ino's mother.

Kakashi hadn't realized that he stopped breathing when Sakura picked up their child.

"Obito…" He mumbled. Their baby really did have his hair. Poor kid, he thought with a smile on his face as he watched Sakura twirl Obito and talk to him.

That could be his family. No, that was his family. He hated fighting his feelings for Sakura. He was tired of it and it was affecting him so much he was going to get himself killed if he kept being a stubborn ass about it.

He wanted to cave. He wanted to be with Sakura. It was taking more effort to stay away than it would to just be with her.

When did he fall so hard for Sakura?

He didn't know when, but he knew it would be more than a little obvious now as he caught himself literally growling at the sight of Genma draping his arm around her shoulders. The man was his friend, but he was treading in dangerous territory.

He knew he had no right to be jealous and angry.

He had put Sakura through so much, he had only just come to the conclusion that not being with her was putting them through more hell than he had realized, and there was the fact he believed jealousy was a useless emotion.

Though when Sakura smiled sweetly at Genma he could think of nothing more wonderful than beating his sebon wielding friend into a pulp in the middle of Naruto and Hinata's wedding reception.

This was not going to do. If he hobbled up to her in his condition he would look like a charity case. He needed to convince her he was serious and he also had to be very careful with what his said to her after the last encounter they had. He remembered his previous thought about really not wanting anymore injuries.

He just needed a few days to heal a little and he would attempt to start getting on her good side from there. Sakura could be a frightening woman when she wanted to be, a few days in hiding might give her time to cool after finding out he had returned to the village.