Chapter 16

Their first year of traveling and raising a child was not the easiest thing he had ever done. Thank Kami for Sakura else he'd have lost his mind in the process, of this he was certain. No one told you how difficult parenting was, it was so much more challenging than becoming a ninja or obtaining revenge or even fighting a war. Parenting was a battle with no battle plan, it was a challenge which held no end but the rewards of it were smiles, laughs, and moments which were not replaceable. And Sasuke would not trade it for anything in this world.

Being Sarada's father was the best job he had ever taken on. And right now he was enjoying his daughter who was grinning happily as she waved a red and white fan about in amazement. The village they were in was holding a festival for the sakura and he had decided to stay to enjoy it with his girls. Sakura was walking beside him and laughed when he was swatted in the face by their daughter's fan.

"Be nice to papa, Sarada," Sakura giggled. He frowned, it didn't help to scold their daughter if Sakura was laughing. But he had to admit he was enjoying his wife's laughter while they walked through the village. This was nice, being anonymous here, there were no sideways looks at them and there was no hated stares directed to him or his girls. Also Sakura's longer pink hair seemed to spark the curiosity of the people here. It reached her shoulders now and it was growing mostly because she 'wanted to try an old look'. He'd secretly admit he liked it.

"Oh, look Sarada, flowers!" Sakura exclaimed, he looked to where his daughter was looking with owlish black eyes. She grinned the laughed with joy as she tugged his hair, wincing a bit he walked over there. Sarada leaned over to look at the flowers, he was concerned then so he set her on the ground before she'd fall out of his grasp. Carefully he offered his daughter his hand and she pulled herself up into a standing position. She had mastered walking, standing and wiggling (bouncing, or dancing as others called it but it was really a wiggle if you asked him) over the past few months, she was very quick too. However Sarada was a year old now and she had yet to say her first words or really make articulate sounds.

Sasuke was concerned about this but Sakura wasn't, Sakura said every child developed at their own pace and when she decided she had something to say the she'd say it. Until then, Sarada would just giggle and cry (though she was crying less and less to his concern).

"Isn't this pretty Sarada!?" Sakura asked crouching to their daughter's level to finger a beautiful bright red-pink flower which was larger than Sarada's face. The baby giggled as she reached for the flower, her fingers were gentled with how she grabbed the flower Sakura had picked out of the vase. Sasuke smirked at the look of complete wonder and seriousness on Sarada's small face, her black eyes were wide as she brought the flower to her face.

"Ah-choo!" Sarad landed on her butt and continued staring at the flower which had caused her to sneeze then she burst into a fit of giggles. Sakura was chuckling too and he grinned slightly. Sakura picked up their daughter then and he paid for the flower that his daughter had yet to let go of and picked up her fan before following his wife and daughter.

"This is a wonderful village," Sakura said suddenly as they walked through it enjoying the festive atmosphere.

"Yes," he agreed. Though he still wasn't much of a talker he had become a better listener for his wife, Sakura still carried the brunt of their conversations. Sarada giggled and then he had a face full of flower, Sasuke sneezed, Sakura and Sarada were laughing he frowned but slipped his arm around Sakura's waist.

"I wish we didn't have to leave yet, it's nice here. Also look at the cherry blossoms, it's perfect Sasuke. There's no war, no missions, just people living their lives," Sakura looked wistful and he understood as he stopped her and pulled her close. She smiled a secret smile, he just looked at his girls and thought about the past year.

It had been truly a hell of a year to get them here.

Neither he nor Sakura had any clue what they were doing, and they were on a mission, they were traveling, and now they had a new born. They had fought a lot the first few weeks when they had resumed their travels, he wanted them to return to the village where it was safe, Sakura wasn't leaving him and neither was Sarada. Then they had argued over how the mission would work which had only really created more troubles for them, what brought them together though was Sarada's first kidnapping. She had been three months old, Sakura had been poisoned and he had been out scouting for the Uchiha imposter when they were in the Land of Iron.

His Sarada had been taken, Sakura left to die and when he had found his half dead wife there had been hell. Sasuke had retrieved Sarada in the process but the people who had taken his daughter had never intended to harm her, they intended to raise her as a weapon for them but Sakura was different. Sakura was a threat to kill, well none of his daughter's kidnappers or wife's attempted killers had lived long enough to run to the council to plead for mercy.

It was after this that he and Sakura figured out how to be more than just partners and spouses, they went about figuring out how to be parents. And once Sakura was all healed they started rotating the duties, when they were with Sarada they were there, when they were away from one another and their daughter they were focused on their mission, but when the three of them were together then they were together. It was not easy to figure this out but it had only taken a little while for them to adapt to this as their life. Traveling, guarding their daughter, scouting for the Uchiha imposter and keeping up with Sarada, while also being a couple. Sasuke wouldn't give up on him and Sakura working, it wouldn't be easy but Sakura had repeatedly told him if she had wanted easy she'd have married someone else.

"We could stay," Sasuke finally said. It wasn't a lie, no one in the village would really want him back and having another Uchiha there would probably unsettle them. No one was looking for them, at this time, and they could live a quiet life centered around creating a family and living a quiet life. Sasuke would like that, and he was certain Sakura would too, his wife smiled then.

"I'd like that Sasuke, I really would. But," she sighed and he nodded. He knew, they were shinobi and that meant once a shinobi, always a shinobi. There was also the dobe to think about because Naruto would hunt them down if they were to disappear. Sasuke knew that from the first time he had left, Naruto had created a hunting party with the sole purpose of finding him and dragging him back to the village.

"I know, just thought to offer it," Sasuke said softly as they resumed their walk through the festival.

"Thank you, thank you for the offer, I'm certain Sarada would love living here with you and me," Sakura mused. He softened. There was no denying it, he liked having a family again, he loved having those ties he had long since lost and thought severed for forever. Sakura would probably never truly understand how deep his gratefulness for having a family from her went because she was happy and she had never experienced the loss of everything all at once and violently.

"Look over there Sarada, would you like a sweet?" Sakura pointed out a pink candy filled booth then. He rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"She'll never have teeth with all your sweets," he informed his wife.

"And she'd starve on your diet of tomatoes!" Sakura snapped back, he glared, she snickered and Sarada was laughing happily and waving her flower around. Sasuke continued to enjoy the festival as they went about examining the other booths. Sarada passed out on Sakura's shoulder so they decided to return to their rented house. He no longer let his family stay in inns after an incident last month with a common burglar who broke in thinking to steal jewels from the drawers only to cause Sarada to scream the entire inn awake. Needless to say after a beating for him and Sakura the burglar; an employee of the inn, surrendered himself to the authorities pleading to be taken to jail.

After that they stayed in rented houses which were already furnished and had a bedroom for Sarada, she needed to learn to sleep alone else he'd never get to have Sakura all to himself; he was a greedy bastard after all. Also a house was easier to defend than an inn.

Sakura walked into their small little rental house and had to admit that there was nothing more tempting to her than staying here for forever with Sasuke and Sarada and having more babies. She loved being a mom, despite all the hardships, it was the best job she had ever had in the world, and it was more amazing than being a doctor or medic. Quietly Sakura walked to Sarada's little room, it was perfect for her baby at the moment if a little Spartan. Putting Sarada down on her little futon Sakura covered her baby then kissed her daughter's brow before leaving the room.

Sasuke was sitting on the porch when she joined him. She reach for his hand and leaned on his shoulder as they watched the fireworks explode into the night's sky from the festival.

"You know, we've made it two years, nearly three, together and we haven't tried to kill one another. That's a record I think," she mused. Sasuke looked a bit grim but once he caught onto the fact that she was joking he relaxed a little. Sakura knew that those times when he had attacked her were something which he felt horrible about now, but she forgave him. He wasn't himself, he wasn't Sasuke then, he was hurting, he was wounded and the darkness from all that pain and hatred had driven him to something else. Something which wasn't him, now he was himself, he wasn't so hurt or hateful that he would ever again harm her. This didn't mean that there weren't times he didn't want to throttle her for she was certain that there were times he wanted to but at least now he didn't hate her.

"Sakura," he said her name so softly that she tilted her chin up to rest on his shoulder.

"Hm?" she hummed, then his mouth was on hers. Sakura just melted into his kiss as she shifted around to straddle his lap again. Sasuke lifted her and him carefully then. She didn't protest as he fought with a door, it slid open then and she giggled when they fell onto the futon. His lips were in a slight smile when he pulled away. His fingers carefully slid under her sweatshirt. She groaned a bit while his fingers created a trail of fire over her skin. Her grip tightened on Sasuke's shoulders as she arched into his touch.

"Sasuke," she whispered, he kissed lips again and she grabbed the hem of his shirt. Pulling it up she was happy to feel his muscles moving beneath her fingers. Her fingers dug into his back when he pulled away from her. Sakura wiggled out of her clothes then. Pulling her shirt over her head, then wiggling out of her pants and socks since she had already discarded herself of her shoes. Now she and Sasuke were both naked and their clothes were strewn about then, she reached up for him when his mouth came to hers.

The kiss was not soft, she was desperate and Sasuke seemed just as desperate. The kiss was hot, it heated, and it was desperate as his mouth moved over hers, Sakura moaned. Sasuke groaned when her fingers slid over his body and downwards, her fingers grasped him and he growled. She smiled a bit as she rolled him over onto his back, straddling his abdomen as the kissed. Pulling away her lips trailed over his jaw then slid his neck. Sakura moved her body so she could continue kiss his skin.

Gently she pressed her lips to an old scar on his collarbone, his breath hitched and she smiled a bit. Then her lips continued to kiss him as she carefully made her way down him. Her body slid over him, and she groaned a bit at the feeling, it was a good feeling, and Sasuke groaned. She kissed his abs, his voice moaned her name and she had to admit she liked the sound of that as she continued her southward journey. Before he could say anything more her lips closed around the head of his errection.

Sasuke groaned and her lips moved and her tongue swirled around him, her fingers curled around him as she carefully began moving her mouth and toying with him. Sasuke didn't make many sounds but his hips started moving with the rhythm of her mouth, he moaned a bit, the sound made her groan for his reactions were fueling her own. Sakura lifted her head for a moment when he grabbed her, yanking her to him when his mouth was on hers, he rolled them over as he settled between her legs.

The tip of him brushed her heat and she gasped. There was no slowness or kindness in his movements then as he entered her. They both groaned, it felt so good that Sakura didn't know how to think. His hips pushed into hers, she just gripped his shoulders as her legs wrapped securely around his hips. Sasuke continued kissing her as they moved with one another.

It wasn't often that they went slow anymore, and tonight was no different. Sakura had never expected that in Sasuke, the heat, the passion but he was still impatient, not that she minded because she wasn't patient either.

"Sasuke," she groaned, the building pleasure in her as his fingers toyed with her and his hips moved had her tightening her hold on him. Sasuke kissed her temple, the corner of her eye, then his mouth was once again on hers as he moved. Their rhythm was quickening, and she lost herself in the sensations. Sakura pulled away from the kiss as her head fell back, his lips trailed over her jaw to her throat. His teeth scraped softly over her skin when he started sucking, she gasped again as he continued hitting that sweet spot within her as his fingers toyed with her nerves.

It overwhelmed her as she screamed his name, everything went white behind her eyes as she was consumed by everything she was feeling and what he was doing to her. Sasuke's mouth was on hers' again and his rhythm quickened then he stilled in her as he collapsed on her. Sakura smiled as she continued hugging him, her legs slid limply from his hips in her lax state.

"I love you Sasuke," she whispered in his ear. He no longer responded to her whispers of love, instead his lips pressed to her temple as he rolled them over and pulled out of her. Sakura just smiled, as she let her hand rest over his heart.

"You know, it's been a while since we had a chance to do that," Sakura mused.

"Sarada had a cold," he reminded her. She pressed her lips to his shoulder as she snuggled closer to the man who she loved more than life and all her life, he just held her closer as they lay there catching their breaths.

"I don't know if I'll ever want to return to the village," Sakura finally admitted and he sat up with a questioning look in those onyx eyes of his. She decided she'd have to elaborate because he wouldn't ask her outright 'why', Sasuke was still not much of one for conversation. "I just don't want to expose my daughter to the hatred of people who wouldn't understand her or try to understand our family, and I don't want to deal with people questioning why I love you when I just do. Also, I don't ever want to be away from you, I love being with you Sasuke, and wherever you go I want to be with you, I don't care about the risks, so long as we can stay a family. And I know I said I didn't want to give this quiet life in a quiet village up, but…" she struggled to say this next part.

"I lied," she admitted as she pulled the sheets up then. Sasuke didn't say anything as she curled up against him again. "I lied, I would love nothing more that this quiet life with Sarada and you and whatever other children we would have. I like out little rental house, and I like this village, I like not having to deal with those hated glares because the people here are untouched by the war. I like it here Sasuke."

"We can stay if you want," he murmured.

"Yeah but if we never returned then Naruto would track us down and drag us back," she mumbled into his chest. He laughed then, she peeked at her husband to make certain her ears were deceiving her but he was laying there with his head tossed back as he laughed, she smiled. He didn't laugh or smile all that often and it was a beautiful sound.

"He would try," Sasuke finally admitted once his laughter subsided. "But you guys never caught me the first time," he pointed out.

"Are you really willing to hide Sarada and me or run with us dragging you down for forever?" Sakura asked him as she rested her chin on his chest so she could assess him when he answered. Sasuke propped himself up then, there was a look of utter seriousness in those onyx eyes which had her knowing whatever came next was the truth.

"Yes," was his answer.

She gasped, his mouth was on hers' again and her hand curled on his chest as she melted into the hard kiss again.