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—

Soon Itsuki and Yuuto Uchiha were three months old.

Then six months old…..

One year old.

Two years old

Three years old.

Four.

To Sakura and Itachi, the time seemed to melt away.

Where did all of the days go?

It felt like one moment, the boys had just been brought home from the hospital and the next, they were preparing for their first day of school.

Sasuke traveled often for weeks or months at a time to complete his missions, but whenever he came home to Konoha and saw his growing nephews, he always felt like he had been away for much longer.

Sakura was back to working as a medical nin at the hospital.

Itachi was on Konoha's defense team so that he could work in the village and be close to his family.

However, just after the twins had turned four years old, Itachi himself was called to travel for three days on an important mission.

In an odd turn of events, Sakura had been assigned to go with Itachi and his group.

The mission was dangerous and a good medical nin was essential to have in the party.

Naruto had thoughtfully selected Sakura because he was confident that she could keep the group safe.

The mission assignment worked out well for Itachi and Sakura.

Except for the fact that they needed a babysitter…..

Sasuke happened to be in town that weekend and so, he was selected for the job.

"Sure, I can come stay with Itsuki and Yuuto." Sasuke shrugged when Sakura and Itachi had approached him. "Why not?"

Sakura smirked and Itachi cast her a sly grin.

Sasuke blinked.

Were Sakura and Itachi trying to hint at something?

How hard could it be to babysit two little boys anyway?

—

The first day of the mission went well.

The group encountered a couple of close calls in several battles, but surprisingly, Sakura's skills really weren't needed that much.

The second day was worse and Sakura spent the majority of the late afternoon and early evening tending to the injured.

That night, Sakura laid down next to Itachi to sleep and they both silently held hands.

It was just an hour or two later when Itachi woke and looked around.

Sakura's sleeping bag was empty.

Itachi's eyes widened and he sat up.

Oh….

With a growl, Itachi rose to his feet and began to stalk through the forest like a panther.

Sakura was close to the campsite….

Itachi prowled through the foliage until he spotted his omega.

The alpha licked his lips when he saw her.

There, in the glow of the moonlight, leaning against a tree, was Sakura.

Sakura was panting for breath, her cheeks were tinted a dark pink, and a subtle sheen of sweat glistened across her forehead even as she shivered in the chilly, evening air.

The pinkette let out a gasp when she turned around and saw Itachi, regarding her with a steely, predatory gaze.

Itachi meant to speak calmly but his voice came out as more of a possessive growl. "Sakura~..."

Sakura whimpered and took a faltering step back against the tree.

Itachi grit his teeth and raced forward, grabbing Sakura by the hips, he pinned her against the tree and pressed his lips to hers in a passionate kiss.

It was a good thing that the rest of the Shinobis were asleep…..

Sakura's whimpers of pleasure as Itachi made love to her would have driven any alpha insane.

—

Back in Konoha, Sasuke was discovering that it actually could be rather difficult to look after two four-year-old boys.

Itsuki and Yuuto could go from being best friends to worst enemies in a mere few minutes.

Beyond their wild and volatile range of emotions, Itachi's young sons seemed to have an unending supply of energy while Sasuke remained exhausted.

When the boys became restless and bored after dinner on their second night in their uncle's care, Sasuke thought up a brilliant solution:

Buy his rambunctious nephews ice cream.

Nothing calms children down like sugar, right?

Sasuke took the twins out and walked them to the ice cream stand by the market.

"Dad never buys me ice cream." Yuuto frowned up at Sasuke.

"Yeah, you're the coolest, Uncle Sasuke!" Itsuki beamed happily.

Sasuke smirked.

It didn't surprise Sasuke….

Itachi was such a health fanatic, of course he would deny his children ice cream.

"Is that so?" Sasuke asked the twins.

Both Itsuki and Yuuto nodded.

"Well, just don't tell your dad about this, ok?" Sasuke asked while he paid for two ice cream cones.

"Ok!" Itsuki smiled.

"Ok." Yuuto nodded.

Sasuke saw a vacant bench on the street and he walked the boys over, seating them on it before he glanced down to put some of the spare napkins they'd been given into his pocket.

When Sasuke looked back up at the boys, his eyes widened.

Itsuki was doing fine, calmly eating his ice cream cone, but Yuuto…..

From his face all the way to his little feet, Yuuto was completely covered in ice cream.

Sasuke noticed that Yuuto's cone was empty but still in his hand…

…..And the cone's bottom was missing.

"Yuuto!" Sasuke snapped. "What did you do?! Bite the bottom out?"

"Yeah." Yuuto shrugged. "I always eat the bottom first. That's why Dad never buys me ice cream."

Sasuke scowled and quickly dug the napkins out of his pocket.

Moving fast, while Itsuki looked on and giggled in amusement, Sasuke worked to use the flimsy napkins to clean his sticky, soggy nephew off.

The twins laughed and Sasuke sighed.

Four years…...

How had Itachi and Sakura done this for four years?

—-

"Itachi…..we have to stop….." Sakura cooed happily.

Sakura was still against the tree, her pink hair messy and tousled, standing in Itachi's embrace.

Itachi purred quietly as he nibbled Sakura's collarbone, "Why?"

Sakura and Itachi had spent the night against the tree doing everything but sleeping and the first rays of dawn were just starting to break across the sky…..

"The others will be up soon…." Sakura whispered. "We can't still be here, not like this."

"Let them watch." Itachi growled, diving down to meet Sakura's lips once again.

Sakura gasped and smacked Itachi playfully on the shoulder as they kissed.

With great irritation, Itachi pulled back and gazed at his wife intently.

"Fine." Itachi nodded to Sakura.

Even in his frenzied state, Itachi lovingly moved Sakura's clothes back into place and combed her soft, pink hair with his fingers.

"Thank you." Sakura smiled.

"We'll be walking through some thick forest this afternoon…..." Itachi replied suggestively.

Sakura exclaimed at Itachi. "Itachi! I told you we can't, at least not until nightfall…."

Itachi remained silent.

Sakura huffed, "Well? Don't you agree?"

Itachi let out a low, deep noise between a growl and a purr as he clutched Sakura close and whispered in her ear, "I'm not going to lie to my wife~."

"Itachi? Itachi?!" A voice called out from behind them.

Sakura's eyes widened.

The others were up…

"See you this afternoon." Itachi said very confidently, casting Sakura one more intense glance before he turned and walked back to their camp.

Sakura caught her breath and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Alone, the pinkette grinned to herself.

Secretly, despite her protests, Sakura couldn't wait until the afternoon~.