The Bed's Getting Cold and You're Not Here,

The Future That We Hold Is So Unclear,

But The You Disappear and Make Me Wait,

and Every Seconds Like Torture.

There's A Million Reasons Why I Should Give You Up,

But The Heart Wants What It Wants.

"Are you eventually going to look at me?" Sasuke's monotonous voice rang out in the silence in a matter of fact tone.

He stared at Aiko, across the table from him, as she stared at her hands. They were shaking, she eventually realised, and whether that was out of fighting her more tears or anger she no longer knew. She inhaled a deep breath, taking her hands off of the small table and onto her lap, and looked up to face him. Eyes hard.

"I mourned you," she said steadily, though the anger and hurt was evident even then, "I was still mourning. I cried myself to sleep every night thinking you were dead, that you had been taken from me. I spent every night wishing that by some miracle you would come back to me."

"I did-"

"You left by your own choice. You left, knowing that was when I needed you most, and you left without even explaining or saying goodbye. How can I forgive that?"

He remained silent, mulling over her words, and wondered just how wounded she may have felt. He'd spent so long cutting off things as trivial as emotions that eventually finding Aiko scared him. He left to deal with his own problems, yes, but now he began to think that he left out of the fear of losing her. Of reliving the pain of what it was like to lose his family the first time around. Yet how did he explain that to her? When he could barely admit that he loved her.

"You shouldn't have to." He said simply. "You shouldn't have to forgive me, and I shouldn't have the audacity to ask for it. I don't deserve it."

She scoffed, the fire returning in her eyes as her anger began to rebuild itself. She was glad that his blonde haired friend had known to leave, and not be present for this. It was a personal moment that she'd rather not have a stranger present for.

"How could you do that to me? How could you do that to our son?"

"We have a son?" His voice peaked slightly in tone, but only just. And he was unable to ignore the surge of joy that exploded in his stomach at the thought of a son, someone that was half of him.

"Like you ever even cared."

"Aiko, I left because I care. I care far too much for me to admit, I was not going to pull you into the demons that I had to face alone."

"Shut up!" She snapped, a fist banging down onto the table as she stood from her seat. "I don't care about your goddamn demons. I don't care for it when you had an obligation as a father. It wouldn't have been as bad if Takeshi wasn't involved, if he didn't exist at this point. But he does. He was supposed to be ours, you were supposed to put your child first. You left me alone to deal with that, you left me alone with a new born who suffered with Colic for three months! Do you even know what Colic is?"

She rambled on, not giving Sasuke a chance to respond. There was no point, because he would have said 'no' anyway, and that only would have angered him more.

"He spent all hours of the day and evening screaming, crying. Barely sleeping! And I couldn't do anything to stop it, I had to sit there and hold him and just watch him suffer. Do you even know how hard that was? Do you know how hard it was to see him in so much pain? I needed you! I needed you through everything and you. Weren't. There. Our child was sick and you were off filling your quest for revenge!"

She sobbed and Sasuke's response was to stand from his seat, and to walk towards her. He stood beside her, not touching her, and simply looked down at her, waiting for her to look up at him. He let her cry for a few moments, knowing that she would recoil from him if he dared touch her. He couldn't push her, he needed her to forgive him, only he couldn't seem to find the words to explain that, so he waited. Hoping she would understand that.

"I don't deserve to ask for your forgiveness, but I am going to anyway. Because I'm selfish, I always have been. I hope, regardless of that, that you'll still have me."

She closed her eyes in pain, taking in a deep breath as she processed his words. The pain was unbearable, but she couldn't deny the craving for him, the need to close the small space between them and to let him hold her. For that she hated herself, because despite the thousands of reasons to walk away from him she simply couldn't.

She composed herself, wiping away her years with the back of her hand before she took a step back and looked back up to him. Still partly unnerved by the grey eye on his left, it was like looking at a completely different person, yet the same person still seemed to be inside of him.

"I don't know if I can forgive you," she said quietly, and despite the lack of expression on Sasuke's face, he felt his heart sink, "but I'll try."

Without even realising it, he let out a small sigh of relief. One that Aiko realised, and it made her feel slightly good to know that despite his behaviour he may have been suffering on the inside.

He then asked, almost timidly, like a child, "… can I see him?"

"No." Her tone was quick and simple. "I don't trust you. You can abandon me, but you can't do that to my son." Sasuke almost flinched at her phrasing, yet knowing she had every right to make a statement like that.

"His Birthday is in a month, if you stick around long enough, you can meet him then. I will not introduce you to him, and have him form an attachment only for you to leave. I will not have my son thinking he wasn't enough for you, like I did."

It pained him to think that she would truly ever believe that, only he couldn't blame her. How could he? He'd left without so much as a wave of farewell, and he'd owed her more than that. He'd never hated himself more than in that moment, and he would hate himself for the rest of his life if he lost her now.

"I understand." He nodded, and he began to turn away, taking those last words as his queue to leave her home. But he wasn't leaving town. If he had a trial month to stick around, then he wasn't going to let her down. Not this time.

"He likes toy horses, or teddy bears." She said quietly, and he turned his head, stopping for a moment as she continued. "He likes to have them fight each other, which is kind of worrying for an eleven month old. Then again, he's your son. And don't get him the cheap kind, or the ones that tear easily. You will get him something shiny, something expensive, and you will sit there and you will play with him. All day if you have to."

He half smiled, forcing himself to not show a full one at the thought of meeting his son. Meeting someone that belonged to the both of them, and nodded in confirmation. He waited a moment longer, feeling as if she still had more left to say.

"I would have married you." She said after a brief silence, solemnly.

Sasuke turned his face away from her, unwilling to let her see the evident pain in it. His façade now crumbling. He had destroyed what they once had, but he wouldn't give up until he had repented for it. Instead, he left her with three words, the determination in his voice leaving a lasting effect on her as he walked away and out of her apartment.

"You still will."

Naruto watched his childhood friend, and despite silence being a common thing for Sasuke, he still noticed the aura of morbidity surrounding him. It still startled him that there was actually someone out there who could evoke this sort of reaction from him. Someone who could mean enough for him to return and want them to return to Konoha with him. He was glad, despite it not being him or Sakura or even Kakashi, that someone had kept his heart from going completely cold throughout his years away from the village.

That he had still allowed someone to know the most vulnerable parts of him. That was an accomplishment, especially for a civilian – a damn waitress, he might add- to do that to him.

"So… you're a dad? Damn, Sasuke." He breathed out, eyes wide as the news of it still failed to settle in for him. Sasuke. A Father. To an actual human child.

When he'd spoken of restarting his Clan so boisterously, he never imagined it'd ever actually happen. Especially with a woman he appeared to actually care for, if not love.

"A son, supposedly. Though I can't meet him just yet." He said simply, though Naruto noticed the tenseness of his jaw as he spoke. It was hurting him to not be able to meet his son.

"She doesn't trust you, huh?" He responded, folding his arms on the table as his knee bounced up and down, he was eager for his Ramen. Sasuke had said that Aiko's restaurant actually had good food. "Can you really blame her?"

"No, I guess I don't." It was actually weird for Naruto to hear him sound so… resigned to it all. He didn't think he'd ever seen him upset over something other than the topic of his brother, family, or power.

To have it be over a woman was bizarre, to say the least. He didn't think he'd get used to it any time soon.

"Not to sound rude, but …. why her?" His curiosity had gotten the better of him, and he genuinely wanted to know. He prepared himself for a glare from Sasuke, except he received the opposite. A simple tired sigh, as if he were anticipating the question.

"It's just she seems so…so…-"

"Unremarkable?" Sasuke finished for him, and though Naruto didn't confirm that was the word he was looking for, he simply looked away in embarrassment. Scratching the back of his head in discomfort.

"Under normal circumstances, I would have made the same statement." Sasuke mumbled, voice almost monotonous. Only it had been far too much of an overwhelming afternoon for him to completely cloak his emotional pain. "But these are not normal circumstances, and neither is she."

"What is it about her, then? I gotta' ask, I'm dying to know."

Sasuke shook his head in slight annoyance, but mostly amusement. Only Naruto seemed to be able to lighten his moods, although he'd never tell the idiot that.

"There's not really any words to appropriately explain it. She brings me peace, after a life time of war, and pain. To me, she's home."

He said nothing after that, and Naruto ultimately knew that was all he would be getting out of him. It was more dialogue than he could have hoped for when it came to Sasuke, especially in regards to Women. Well, one of them at least. He watched his friend sit there, face resigned as he barely chewed on his meal. He guessed this was the result of Sasuke repressing romantic emotions for so long, he was going to be stuck with a broody teenager until –hopefully– she took him back.

Yet he couldn't shake the feeling of pride for his oldest friend, he had grown so much, had found someone he actually wanted to create a future with. Someone who he thought of was home, for the first time –in a long time- Naruto was jealous of Sasuke.

He wasn't exactly sure what to expect when he'd eventually meet his son, but an overwhelming and crushing sense of emotion wasn't his first prediction. Whether it was joy, fear, love or all three of them, they were weighing down on me like a boulder would during a rock slide. He'd held his son at arms-length at first, the both of them staring at each other with wide dark eyes.

It terrified him to say, but Sasuke could only see himself in his son. He imagined that was what he looked like when studying someone he didn't fully know. The look of suspicion on the one year olds face only lasted for a few minutes, however, before a grin spread across his face. His small fingers reaching out to be pulled closer to Sasuke. Without even questioning it, Sasuke did as his son commanded. Afraid that if he looked across the room to Aiko that he would let a few traitorous tears fall from his eyes.

His son was hugging him, albeit his arms barely fit around his neck, and instead his tiny hands grabbed onto the fabric of his shirt on his shoulders. But he was hugging him, as if he was so sure of the fact that he was his father. The smug part of Sasuke wanted to say that Takeshi had inherited his clear intelligence from him, only he was already on thin ice with the woman who had his heart. Today had to go off without a single mistake. He refused to fail his family.

His family. The phrasing was so alien and knew to him, but he decided that he liked saying it. He was ready for it.

The inescapable feeling of guilt eventually settled in as he watched his son bounce around in his arms, seeming eager to walk around, but not stray too far away from his father. He had missed so much. Had missed his sons first kick, and birth, and his first steps. He'd only managed to remember his own Mother talking about how monumental and important those moments were. And he'd missed nearly all of them. He'd never be able to make up for that, but right now, he promised himself he would try.

He'd become a father that both Aiko and their Son could be proud of. He would no longer put himself first.

There were not many people at Takeshi's first Birthday; a few ladies from the restaurant, Aiko's neighbour and Naruto. Pitifully small, actually, but then Sasuke supposed this was a lot for people such as Aiko, who knew nothing but the peacefulness of this town. He only hoped she would be willing to move to Konoha, where they could begin being a real family.

He watched as she fed each guest, Naruto diving for the large plate in her hands whenever she neared him. Of course, she was a perfect host. Accommodating to everyone but herself, only occasionally letting her eyes wander to Sasuke and Takeshi, almost as if it were precaution. Though it hurt to know she didn't trust him with their child, he also couldn't particularly hold that against her. The fact of the matter was she knew far more about parenting than he did.

"You surprised me today," she said quietly, later, when her guests had left and she was washing the remainder of the dishes.

Aiko had left Takeshi to Naruto, who she surprisingly liked more than she thought she would have. He defied every preconceived opinion she'd ever had of ninja's. Naruto was warm, open and free-spirited, and it radiated off of it like a glowing light. She adored him, much to Sasuke's pleasure. There were very few people who didn't like Naruto. Even Takeshi had taken to him tremendously, in fact, he followed the blonde around like a lost puppy.

For Naruto it seemed that the effort to fit in was non-existent, and seeing that happen so easily with the woman and child he loved so dearly made the childish part of Sasuke slightly jealous.

"How so?" He responded, quietly. Simply standing there and watching her, he had missed being able to do that. How something as simple as watch her do menial tasks could bring him such contentment.

"With Takeshi, with everyone who was here. I don't know, I just wasn't expecting you to make such an effort to … socialise I guess. You really did try."

"I meant what I said a few weeks ago," he said quietly, tone matching her own to avoid Naruto eavesdropping, "I have every intention of remaining with you, of marrying you."

"Sasuke-"

"Don't say anything now, I understand you still have your reservations. I'm just reminding you."

He left the small kitchen, returning back to Naruto and his son. Leaving Aiko to stare at his retreating figure.

This has ended up being a lot longer than I originally planned, so they may just end up being one or two more chapters. Still hope you guys are enjoying this!