DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS/PLOTS. I ONLY OWN HARUKA AND ANY OTHER OC.

We cannot simply sit and stare at our wounds forever. We must stand up and move on to the next action.

Haruki Murakami, 1Q84

Finale

If you had asked me when I was 12 what I'd be doing 30 years from now, I would have told you that I was dead, rotting in hell for all the lives I've took for being a shinobi. Either that, or I would've just laughed in your face and called you stupid. Never in my wildest dreams would I have said that I'd be a mother to two and a wife to the sixth Hokage, living peacefully in a world with no war. Never would I have thought that I'd be in love with my best friend and teaching children. But fate works in mysterious ways, I guess.

So here I am, 42 years old and still alive—surprisingly too, looking at my track record of getting hurt and actually dying once. And I'm not talking about my past life, I'm talking about actually dying in the village and then coming back to life, but it was all to protect my loved ones, my two pups. I know that this will sound very cliché and typical, but it's true—becoming a mom had changed me.

But in the end, it didn't matter because finally—finally, my story would be finished.

"Haruka, everything okay?" I turned around and looked at Kakashi, not wearing his mask for once.

"Yeah." He sat down and wrapped an arm around me. "Why?"

"You seem…down."

"I guess you could say that." Turning my head back to the sky, I watched as the clouds moved. "I'm just worried, you know? What happens now that everything's at peace?"

Kakashi pulled his mask down and kissed me on my forehead. "I understand. You're worried because now that there's peace, you're unsure of how being a Shinobi'll fit in with society." He stated the obvious while squeezing my shoulders.

I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. "It's just…unbelievable, you know? Our whole lives, we've been either fighting with each other or against someone else. We've seen two wars, two. We faced Madara and Kaguya and we survived, but at a cost. It sure as hell doesn't feel like a blessing to me."

"Haruka, stop overthinking everything—"

"Mom! We're home!"

Kakashi suddenly groaned at hearing our daughter's voice. "Do you think she brought him along?"

"Who, Konohamaru? What do you have against that boy?"

"Everything." He deadpanned. Standing up, he pulled his mask back up before offering a hand to me. "He took my daughter away from me."

I gave him a look of annoyance before sighing. "She's 23 years old Kakashi. Let her date who she wants." I said as we started walking.

"But they're not even dating, they're engaged!" Kakashi complained as we opened the door into our house.

"Hey Mom, where's Hiro?" Noka asked from the doorway as she pulled of her jacket.

"Hiroki? He's still out." I walked over to her and pulled her into a hug before turning to the man standing next to her. "Konohamaru, don't be afraid of the idiot standing behind me. He's just being a big baby."

"Um…okay?" Konohamaru just smiled at me, but when he turned to Kakashi he suddenly paled.

"I should give you a whole month of C-Rank missions." The silver-haired idiot muttered under his breath.

"Dad!"

"Goddamn it Kakashi, leave the poor boy alone—"

The door suddenly opened revealing Hiroki and Kaminari, holding—or in Kaminari's case, biting carefully—bags full of things I had asked them to get earlier. "Uh…I'm home?"

"Thank Kami." Noka suddenly rushed to where he was and pulled him into the house, ignoring her brother's wolf. "Get rid of dad—"

"I can hear you."

"Or at least distract him—"

"Like I said, I can hear you." Noka suddenly whirled around and glared at Kakashi, quickly shutting him up. It pretty amusing to see the oh so great Hokage look scared of a 23-year-old shinobi.

I've taught her well.

"Why don't you go to the kitchen and…do something." I said to Kakashi as I pushed him in that direction. As soon as he disappeared around the corner—not without muttering about how unfair it was—I turned to Konohamaru, only to see Hiro giving him a dangerous look.

"You know, Konohamaru..." My son narrowed his eyes before smiling wickedly. "If you ever break my sister's heart…" Kaminari growled with Hiroki, the wolf's black coat making him look even more threatening. "Let's just say, you won't like what'll happen if you do."

…Damn it, am I the only sane one in this household?

Two years later…

I placed the bouquet of flowers in front of the memorial stone, respecting the names of the dead that were carved onto it.

No matter how many years passed, the fresh pain of loss still ran through my heart when I read the names of my loved ones. Mom, Raijin, Obito, Rin, Sensei…so many people that I had cared about died to protect the village that they loved.

As I brushed my fingers across Raijin's name, I sensed a certain energetic chakra that belonged to a person that everyone knew.

"Haruka-sensei!" Turning around, I couldn't help but smile at the 29-year-old man that was to become the Hokage in the next few days.

"Naruto, what's up?"

The blonde ran up to me before grabbing my hands excitingly. "Come with me to get ramen at Ichiraku's."

I cocked an eyebrow. "What about Hinata? Isn't she waiting for you at home?"

"Nah, she had some sort of Hyuga business so she took the kids with her-ttebayo. Something about wanting them to meet her father."

I scoffed at the mention of the stoic Clan Head. "You mean Hiashi?" I felt my blood boil at the mention of the man. "That man has to shove that godforsaken stick out of his ass and loosen up, live life a little."

Naruto started spluttering, as if he was unsure of how to react to how I just talked about his father in law. "Haruka-sensei…"

I just shrugged. "Oh well." Standing on my toes, I placed my hand on his head and ruffled his hair. "You wanna invite Kakashi too?"

"Isn't he busy-ttebayo?"

I scoffed at the mention of the word 'busy'. "As if. He's rejoicing in the fact that he doesn't have to be Hokage anymore." We started walking away from the Memorial Stone and started to head towards Naruto's favorite ramen stand. "He never really wanted to be the leader. He was always more comfortable getting told what to do instead of the opposite."

"Well, where is he then-ttebayo?"

"Maa Naruto, if you're going to be Hokage shouldn't you pay more attention to your surroundings?" A familiar voice suddenly scolded from behind us.

There just so happened to be a silver-haired man in robes standing behind us, amusement in his eyes. "Scarecrow!" I shouted out happily before moving to stand next to my husband.

"Kakashi-sensei! I just…wasn't paying attention-ttebayo!" Naruto said sheepishly, while rubbing the back of his head.

I kissed Kakashi on his cheek before looping my arm through his. "Well, what are we waiting for? I want some ramen!"

5 years later…

"Mom, are you sure you don't want to bring Kaminari with you?"

I just sighed before rubbing my eyes. "For the last time Hiroki, I'll be fine. This isn't my first mission."

"Well, it's just that these guys…"

I placed my hand on my son's shoulder. "Sasuke's with me for this one—"

"Mom!" I looked over Hiroki's shoulder and watched at Noka came running up to us, fear in her eyes. "What the hell are you thinking, taking this mission?!" She shouted out.

"Noka—"

"You're 49 for Kami's sake! You're not young anymore!" Noka grabbed my shoulders and stared at me with eyes so familiar to her father's. "I know you want to get the ones who got Dad, but still—"

"Noka, that is enough." I gently grabbed her hands and held them. "I know you're worried that I won't come back, and you know what? There's a high chance of that happening."

"Mom—"

"But you have to realize that this is something I need to do." I smiled before placing my hand on her cheek, not shocked at all to see tears streaming down her face. "I can't just sit here and do nothing, knowing that Kakashi's killer is still out there."

"Mom, promise me this then." I turned to Hiroki.

"What?"

"This is your last A-rank mission." He demanded. I just sighed, knowing that this was coming.

"Hiroki…"

"S-rank, B-rank, whatever rank. You have to promise us that this is your last mission."

"…Fine, I promise." My son just nodded his head before engulfing both Noka and I into a hug.

"We love you Mom, so much." Noka whispered in my ear.

Before I pulled away from the two, I placed a kiss on both of their heads. "I love you too."

"Haruka, are you ready?" Giving my kids one last look, I turned toward Sasuke. His own wife and daughter were standing behind him, worry on Sakura's face.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Haruka, watch out!" I turned around too late and felt as the enemy-nin stabbed his blade through my chest, a sadistic smile on his face.

"I got you, you bitch." He spat out.

Pushing through the white-hot pain pulsing through my body, I grabbed my tanto—formerly Kakashi's—before stabbing him. "No you bastard, I got you." I smiled at him, blood dripping down the sides of my mouth. I watched as the disbelief on his face transformed into anger, before that too faded away as he died. Only then did I fall to the ground, the wound in my chest too much to bear. Sasuke was next to me immediately, the enemy he was fighting dead within seconds of beginning the fight.

"Haruka, stay with me—"

I grabbed the Uchiha's hand, stopping him from doing anything. "No…it's fine." I looked up at the ceiling and smiled. "I'm…ready."

"What about Noka and Hiroki? What about Naruto?"

I looked at Sasuke and watched as the red in his eyes faded to his usual black. "They all…have families…they'll survive without me."

"Haruka…"

I just patted his hand, the feeling of satisfaction overpowering the pain. "I killed…him… The man that…killed Kakashi…" My vision blurred as I watched Sasuke who was kneeling next to me, bow his head.

I watched him grow up, go through the hardships that came with being the last Uchiha after Itachi and Obito's defection and massacre of the Uchiha Clan. Whether he knew it or not, I cared for Sasuke as much as I cared for Naruto.

"Tell those two…that I am sorry."

He looked at me, his only hand still holding onto mine. "Are you sure that this is your decision?"

"Yes." The pain slowly faded away, as with my sight and hearing.

And the next thing I knew, it was all dark.

"-ruka! Haruka!" My eyes slowly opened and I was greeted with the sight of cloudless blue skies as the wind blew comfortably around me. Well, that was until a certain someone's grey eyes stared down at me.

"K-Kakashi?" What was happening? Why was he here? The last thing I remember was dying—

"You're late, stupid. You've been holding up the Team for at least an hour."

Slowly sitting up, I stared at Kakashi before realizing something. He was 13 again…which meant I must have been too.

"Hey Haruka, hurry up!" I looked behind him and saw Obito and Rin, standing next to a man with spikey blonde hair, hair that belonged to only Minato-Sensei.

"Come on Haruka, they've all been waiting." I let Kakashi pull me up, but I didn't do anything but stare at him. He wasn't my Kakashi…yet he was. Before he could protest, I threw my arms around him and let out a sob, a sob that contained years' worth of mourning and crying.

"I missed you so much Kakashi." My arms tightened around him and I sobbed into his shirt. But when I pulled away, staring at me wasn't a 13 year old Kakashi. No, it was a 20 year old version of him. I looked down at myself and saw that I was the same age as him now, my body obviously older than my preteen times.

"W-What?" I said out loud, tears still running down my cheeks.

He just placed a hand on my cheek before connecting our foreheads together. "I'm sorry that I left, I never meant for that to happen." I just shook my head before he pulled down his mask to kiss me. It wasn't a long one, because we were suddenly interrupted by a shout of frustration.

"Goddamn it Hatake, how long are you going to keep us waiting?" Obito shouted out again, he too along with Rin looking around the same age as Kakashi and I. I just laughed before turning to Kakashi. I opened my mouth to say something, but a familiar growl from behind me made me froze.

"Hey Pup, what about me?" I whirled around and saw my best friend, my partner, my wolf standing behind me.

"R-Raijin?"

"Who else would it be?" I walked up to me and it didn't take me long to wrap my arms around his neck, the familiar scent of him overwhelming me.

"I can't believe it…"

"Well, don't keep your team watiin' too long. We got a mission after all." He pulled away and gave me a lick on my cheek before running towards Minato-Sensei and the team.

"You ready Haruka?" I turned back around and looked at the hand that Kakashi was extending toward me.

I didn't hesitate for a second. "Yes." Grabbing his hand, I let him lead us to where our old team was as I wiped the tears that continued to fall from my eyes.

I was home.

A/N: Phew, this story is now officially OVER! I don't know if you guys even remember this story because it's been like almost two months since I last updated! I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN FOR IT TO TAKE THIS LONG. It's just that I was overwhelmed with school and like I said, this story wasn't really calling out to me like before.

I hope you guys aren't confused at this ending, but just to make things clear Kakashi died soon after Naruto became Hokage. I have this AU that a group of strong enemy-nin that wanted to be like the Akatsuki went against the Shinobi Forces (that includes Iwa, Suna, Kiri, Konoha, and Kumo) and during one of the earlier fights, Kakashi was killed. Yeah that happened.

I just jumped like 20 years compared to the last chapter and you guys can forgive me for that!

So, how was this ending? Was it good, bad, horrible, want to burn bad? I hope it wasn't too bad because this was how I actually wanted to end the story since the beginning. I wanted it to be happy but sad, in a way like this ending here.

Well, In Time is now officially over. However, this is not the end to my writing journey! I've posted two new stories, one for Assassin's Creed 3 which is an ConnorxOC story and the other is a new Naruto one, and yes, it is another KakashixOC. But I promise you, those two are totally better than this story (grammar and English wise that is). So go check out my profile and check those two stories out! It's Revolution (the AC story) and The Fate of Us.

Other than that guys, all I can really say is thank you guys so much for giving me the privilege to actually write you guys a story. It's had its ups and downs especially since this was my first ever story. But you guys, I wouldn't have even made it past chapter 10 if it weren't for you guys.

SO thank you so much.

Please please PLEASE review, because I honestly want to know what your guys' opinion on this chapter and story is.

So it pains me to say this, thank you for reading my story. This is, the end.

See you in my next story guys!