A/N: Another installment! Thanks to Faircrown for the review! Hope you enjoy!

Sasuke should have known that they wouldn't make it to the village before Naruto found them. Sakura was caught up by a big, orange blur and spun in a circle when they were still half a mile out. Sasuke and the boys had no choice but to rear up and watch with varying degrees of shock (or in Sasuke's case, a distinct lack of it).

His wife's protest was half-hearted, wrapping her arms around their friend and letting him lift her off the ground and haul her around like she was a knapsack.

Sasuke was reminded strongly of the first time he had returned to the village, observing Naruto and Sakura's closeness after so many years, and being struck by it. He would never really have access to that part of their lives, but he witnessed it whenever he saw them together now. It always kind of weirded him out.

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

"You oaf!" Sakura laughed, holding on while he joyously swung her all over. "I thought you'd mature while I was gone!"

"Not a chance!" Naruto shouted, lowering her to her feet but not releasing her completely. "I have a reputation to uphold!"

Sakura leaned back to really look at him before diving back in for a tight hug, closing her eyes. "Ugh, I did miss you, Naruto."

He accepted it with a shake of his head, appearing pleased at her affection. "Of course you did, I don't know why you ever ran off with the bastard!"

You knew Sakura was happy when she didn't even whack him for the remark.

"Let her go, idiot," Sasuke said mildly, tired of the display. "Did you come out here just to slow us down?"

"Sasuke." Naruto grinned, but he fully released Sakura this time and nodded at the Uchiha before adding cheekily, "Didn't see you there."

"Tch."

"That's all the 'hello' I'm gonna get after all these years? Figures."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I'll tell you what I didn't miss…" The happy flush of her cheeks said otherwise. "Don't pretend you wouldn't be hugging him too if he'd let you."

"Nah, why hug that grumpy bastard when I can hug you, Sakura-chan?" He threw an arm around her again and finally, his eyes went to the other two onlookers. "Oi! Who's this?"

Natsuo had been scowling at Naruto and hovering closer to his mother during the exchange, the way he would when he felt he wasn't getting enough recognition. It was his movement that had drawn Naruto's gaze. The boy crossed his arms, caught-out, but not shy about it. His green eyes bore into Naruto with seeming disapproval and Naruto shivered.

"That expression! Sakura-chan, why'd you have little temes? Like the world wasn't scary enough!"

Sakura did hit him upside the head this time and Naruto played his part, dramatically crying out and feigning injury.

"Don't call my children that!" she scolded, ignoring his antics. And then she pulled her dark-haired, frowning child to her side while he attempted to continue his tough-guy routine. "Natsuo, say 'hello' to your Uncle Naruto. Naruto, this is Natsuo, my grumpy little man."

Naruto bent down to his level and beamed. "Hey there, Sasuke-chan! I'm sure you've heard all about me! Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage!" He held out his bandaged hand for the boy to shake, not at all put off by his demeanor.

And why would he be? Sasuke knew that Naruto had never been put off by his standoffishness, which was more annoying than Sakura could ever be.

Natsuo minutely shifted closer into his mother's side, a sign that Naruto's friendliness had confused him in some way. But he knew his manners and knew Sakura would be displeased if he didn't use them, so he shook the offered hand. "I'm Uchiha Natsuo," he said pointedly. "Not Sasuke-chan."

Naruto burst out laughing at that. "Oh, he's so you, Teme!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I don't know, Idiot, he's tolerating you pretty well."

"And this is the other one!" Naruto had already moved on, and he was now focused on Tsuneo, who had been watching the play between Team Seven with deep curiosity, not moving from his place. "Tsunade-baachan's favorite because you were a suck-up and named him after her!"

"Trust me, I wasn't sucking up," Sakura said faintly at the memory, "I was preserving myself from the mother of all lectures…"

"You summon frogs, Naruto-jisan?" Tsuneo asked, rather boldly for his usual polite reserve. "I would like to see them."

"Sure you can see them, Tsuneo-kun!" Naruto declared ecstatically, like no one had ever asked to see his summons. "They would love to meet you!" Sakura cleared her throat lightly and Naruto got the message. "But not now, now you have to meet the Welcome Committee!"

Before they could stop him, Naruto had created a clone and each Naruto had slung a surprised boy onto his back. "Let's go!"

Sasuke shook his head as Naruto and his clone sprinted away, Natsuo's indignant cry carried off with them. Sakura looked as if she might shout for their teammate to stop, but her shoulders slumped in surrender as she glanced at Sasuke. "What's the point? And really, what better way for them to meet Naruto?"

As annoyed as he was, Sasuke actually understood what she meant. Naruto wasn't exactly someone you got to know, he just threw himself at you repeatedly until you became used to him. He didn't imagine the fondness in her tone.

"We'd better catch up…"

"Welcome Committee," Sasuke grumbled. "We'll never get settled."

Sakura giggled as they took off after them. "Sasuke-kun, look at it this way: the sooner we get there, the sooner it will be over!"

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

They weren't that far behind Naruto, but somehow when they had reached the gates, Ino had already gotten ahold of Natsuo and was pinching his cheeks, fawning all over him. "Who would have thought that your eyes in Sasuke's face would be so cute, Forehead?" she gushed. "He's just adorable!"

Natsuo was frozen in surprise, not used to being surrounded by strange women or having them cuddle him like old friends. Naruto (now only one of him) was snickering at the look on the boy's face.

"Don't suffocate my baby, Pig," Sakura said immediately upon arrival, now that Ino was pressing a blushing Natsuo to her breasts. "He doesn't even know you."

Natsuo might have grumbled something about not being a baby, but he was muffled.

"I'm your mother's best friend, Auntie Ino," the blond cooed, fairly ignoring Sakura. "My son, Inojin, is with his friends now, but I can't wait for you to meet him!"

Natsuo continued to grumble and rubbed his reddened cheek, moving away as soon as Ino had relinquished him. "Kaachan, can we—" he stopped short when he realized that Ino had now moved on to Sakura, locking her in an embrace that looked a little emotional…and teary. Bewildered, he turned his scowl on his father. "Tousan, can we go home?"

"I see this boy is as sociable as you used to be, Sasuke," came another voice. Natsuo looked up to see a man wearing a mask, his eyes smiling brightly. "Or should I say, still are?"

"Kakashi."

To Sasuke's great dismay, Naruto hadn't been exaggerating. Several people had come out to the gate to greet them: Tsunade (who was predictably monopolizing Tsuneo), Ino, and Kakashi… Sasuke didn't see her, but imagined that Naruto's wife, the quiet Hyuga girl, was somewhere around here…

He had no interest in such a display, but Sakura was another story…

"Kaka-sensei!" Sakura broke away from Ino and tackled her old teacher, who stepped back with a restrained chuckle from the force. "I mean, Hokage-sama!"

"Now, Sakura, no need for formalities." He sighed, giving her a hug. "You're the only adorable student I have that's still short enough to pat on the head." And he did so with some irony. "You've been missed."

"She certainly has!" Tsunade called out. "Now she can run the hospital and I can retire!"

"Shishou," Sakura smiled. "Don't go running off yet, I'll need catching up!"

"I'll stick around for a little while," Tsunade agreed, squeezing Tsuneo lightly into her side. "You've given me some incentive, at least." Natsuo, who was overwhelmed by all the new faces, scurried over for his share of the attention. The boys had seen Tsunade occasionally, when she wandered out of the village, and were comfortable with her.

"Baachan! You didn't say 'hello' to me!"

Sakura sighed at her dark-haired son's rudeness. "That was Natsuo," she told Kakashi.

He chuckled again. "It's fine, Sakura. When you're Hokage, it's a treat to have people ignore you."

Ino, seeing that a Team Seven reunion was impending, rolled her eyes and moved to coax Tsuneo away from Tsunade.

"Where's Sai?" Sakura asked, seeking out the one missing member of the team she had so cherished. Sasuke himself had never warmed up to his replacement and hadn't wondered where he was.

"On a mission," Kakashi said apologetically. "It was a long one, but he's expected back in a few days…"

Naruto waved a hand. "You don't want him back anyway, Sakura-chan! He'll just make rude comments."

Sakura looked somewhat defeated. "I thought he might have …grown out of that, while I was gone?"

"Don't insult my husband!" Ino yelled, without looking up from Sakura's red-haired son, but obviously eavesdropping.

"He's better," Kakashi said reassuringly, his eyes smiling.

Naruto snorted. "Sure, he might only make like, two insulting remarks about how Sasuke ever managed to figure out where to put it—"

"Naruto…" Sakura warned, her fist clenching. "Shut up."

Naruto chuckled nervously, but Sasuke was unaffected as ever. "I thought it was you he called 'Dickless'?"

"Sasuke!" Sakura hissed, glancing over at their sons significantly. He looked down at her, raising an eyebrow. His gaze was enough for her to understand: he had had enough of this reunion and if she wanted him to behave, they would remove themselves from the village entrance and start for home. It was amazing what several years of marriage had taught her to read in his looks. "Fine …we'll go." She turned on her heel toward the other gathering, where their sons were. "Boys!"

Tsunade, however, had appeared to tire of this reunion at the same time Sasuke did and had Natsuo by his collar, like a lioness with a cub. The boy laughed as she tossed him toward Sakura, who deftly caught him and set him down. Somehow, the maneuver had looked well-practiced.

"Yours. I've spent enough time here, I have to get back to the hospital." Her eyes brightened when they fell on Sakura, the only visible sign of her affection. "Find me when you're ready to get to work."

"Hai!"

Tsunade pinched Tsuneo's cheek and gave Sasuke a bland nod. "Be good."

"For the record," Sakura said when Tsunade was out of sight. "That remark was for you, not the boys."

"You're very funny," Sasuke said in monotone. "Let's go."

Natsuo cheered at his father's words, but the Yamanaka woman put a hand on Tsuneo's shoulder as they approached too.

"Where are we going?" Ino asked eagerly.

"I don't know, Sasuke's leading the way," Sakura said. "He handled those arrangements…"

"Home!" Natsuo answered imperiously, masking his father's very quiet sigh of irritation. Disengaging this crowd of greeters was not easily accomplished, and Sakura looked uncertainly at her husband, probably wondering how much more he'd be willing to endure before he'd rudely dismiss them. He was close, he'd admit. It was likely that she hadn't thought too much about the vast differences in their social limitations, or how returning to Konoha would make it more pronounced. She opened her mouth, to politely put the others off following them, when a high-pitched voice from above broke into the gathering.

"WAIT!"

Sasuke was going to get a headache.

He was even more sure of this fact when a miniature Naruto dropped out of the sky in front of them. It was the stuff of nightmares.

"WAIT!" the kid bellowed again, though he was speaking to people who were no more than two feet in front of him.

"Dobe," Sasuke muttered to his best friend, "did you clone yourself?"

He would have believed it, to look at the child who must have been Naruto's son. Sakura laughed softly at the appearance of the blue-eyed boy, clearly ready to imprint her strange fondness for Naruto on his kid too. Sasuke saw her eyes sparkling keenly at the new arrival, tufts of blonde hair poking out every which way. Naruto looked less-than-pleased.

"Boruto!" their blonde teammate cried with visible embarrassment. "Where have you been?! I swear, if you were causing trouble, I'll—"

"NO!" Boruto cried indignantly, stomping his foot. "You were causing trouble, Touchan! When you ran ahead, Hima-chan started crying! You didn't even say were you were going!"

"Who's he, coming here all of the sudden?" Natsuo asked disdainfully, tugging on his father's hand. "He's loud."

Ino and Sakura both suppressed laughs at the same time and Kakashi sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I'm getting a strange sense of deja-vu…"

"Hey!" Boruto squawked, his attention turned away from his father to the boy who had insulted him. "So? So what if I'm loud?! You're the one disrupting everything with your coming here! That's why Touchan ran ahead and made Hima-chan cry!"

"Nobody asked you to be here!" Natsuo sneered. He might have said more, but Sasuke put a heavy hand on his shoulder and the boy dropped it.

"I see they're going to be great friends," Ino muttered humorously to Sakura.

"Where is your mom?" Naruto interrupted impatiently. "You better not have had her chasing you around all this time!"

"No! I told you she had to go home because the baby wouldn't stop crying!"

"You didn't tell me she went home!"

Natsuo covered his ears waspishly, looking up at Sasuke. "Can we go home?" Tsuneo didn't add to the chorus, but it looked as if he quite agreed with his brother, wincing at Boruto's volume.

"That's not polite," Sakura chided them both. She knelt down, to the dismay of every man in her family, and held out a hand. "It's nice to meet you, Boruto."

"This is your Aunt Sakura!" Naruto introduced, his excitement at this meeting trumping his obvious frustration with his son. "Have some manners and say 'hello'!"

Boruto blushed at the pink-haired woman and rubbed his hand on his shorts, rather than taking her hand. "Nice to meet you, Sakura-obasan" he mumbled.

Sasuke raised his eyebrow at the sheepishness after the entrance the kid had made, and Sakura hesitated a moment before dropping her hand, as it became clear that the little boy wasn't going to take it. Then Tsuneo answered the question on their minds with a calm observation:

"He's got paint all over his hands."

Though they hadn't even met, Boruto jumped back and shot a betrayed look at Tsuneo. A red smear was emblazoned on the side of his shorts where he had wiped. "H—"

"What have you been doing?" Naruto shrieked, but Boruto, seeing no recourse at an explanation, had jetted down the street, his father chasing after him with no concern to appearances, yelling ironies about "discipline" and "trouble-makers". The guards nearby made no move to intervene, though it might have been appropriate. Sasuke guessed it must have been a common occurrence.

The way the Uchiha Clan Head saw it, losing two obnoxious people was better than gaining one. Kakashi chuckled as Sakura straightened up from the ground, looking a little lost for words.

"As you can see, Boruto is …very enthusiastic."

Sakura hummed her agreement, shaking her head. "Hinata must have her hands full. Between that and the baby…"

"He's probably graffiti'd Hokage Mountain again," Ino griped. "He keeps it up and Inojin and the other kids might get it into their heads that they can go around vandalizing property!"

"I have full confidence that you will meet that challenge," Kakashi answered dryly. His slate eyes looked roundly at the Uchiha family before addressing the Ino again. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you have a report to finish for me in Interrogation? I'm guessing these four would like to get settled without the benefit of a crowd."

Sasuke couldn't remember many times when he felt grateful for something Kakashi had done, but this was definitely on the short list. Ino opened her mouth, but nothing came out, leading Sasuke to believe that she did have a prior commitment. And if he had been Natsuo or Tsuneo, he would have cheered with relief.

"We're not a 'crowd'," Ino grumbled.

"I guarantee that Sasuke thinks of this as a 'crowd'."

When Sakura only shrugged in apologetic confirmation that Kakashi was correct, Ino sighed and wrapped Sakura in a final hug. "Spoilsport. I'll come by soon and bring Inojin over to introduce him to your boys!" she swore. "And when Sai gets home, we'll have a dinner!"

"Sounds perfect!" Sakura said brightly, before eyeing their teacher's expression. "And before you get any ideas, Kaka-sensei, you will be attending that. It will be a team dinner."

"Sakura, you know that I have so many responsibilities with—" he stopped abruptly when he got a good look at his female student's face and said with new blankness, "I can hardly wait."

He blinked away as unceremoniously as he always used to, as Ino took off down the road toward where Sasuke remembered T&I building was located. Sasuke hoped the Yamanaka woman would not visit as often as he expected she would. He really hoped that nobody visited as often as he expected they would.

Sakura smirked mischievously at him. "Don't say Kakashi-sensei never did anything for you."

The corners of his mouth lifted the slightest bit. "Let's go." Before anybody comes back.

"Kaachan, I think Hokage-sama is afraid of you," Tsuneo offered her, as they walked together in the direction of their new home, without the fanfare. Sasuke, who told Sakura he would handle their accommodations, led them past streets filled with old memories and half-familiar faces. Nobody approached them, but Sasuke could feel wary eyes as they passed …it could have been his own paranoia. It also could have been exactly what he thought it was.

"Kaachan, please don't make me play with that loud, blonde kid!" Natsuo said, uninterested in whether or not the Hokage was afraid of his mother. "I hate him."

"Natsuo, you don't hate Boruto," Sakura protested with a little laughter in her voice. "You don't 'hate' anyone."

"I might hate him!" He didn't. And Sasuke was blindingly grateful that he had no real concept of the word.

"You haven't even gotten to know him! Some people …take time to get used to."

"Speaking from experience?" Sasuke said softly. They had both been that way about Naruto.

"I think it's strange that you don't like him," Tsuneo told his brother. "Since you're the loudest person in the family."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, I'M AS LOUD AS THAT GUY?! HE—"

"Tsuneo…" Sakura groaned, over the din of Natsuo protesting his brother's words, removing all doubt. "You don't need to say everything that pops into your head…"

"Enough." Sasuke's voice was only slightly louder than his usual murmur, but again Natsuo was immediately quiet. "Nobody is going to force you to be friends with him, but you will not be rude."

His tone was absolute, and the dark-haired boy ducked his head. "Yes, Tousan."

"But we have to see him," Tsuneo piped up, "because he's Naruto-jisan's son."

"Yes, and you can be nice to him, just like your father said," Sakura answered. Tsuneo wasn't as easily quelled, and as Sasuke had a pronounced ability to produce an obedient Natsuo, Sakura did better with their other son. Though to hear Sakura tell it, she was jealous that one word from Sasuke could fix her irascible, older child's attitude.

"It's weird, Sasuke-kun. I'm convinced you work some kind of magic on him," she told him once after Natsuo had left the room chastened, careful not even to stomp off. "It's not like you're really even scary anymore…"

"You're mistaken," he had responded casually. "I'm very scary, just not to you."

There had been a short, uncomfortable pause after he had said that, but Sakura didn't bring up any old pain regarding his treatment of her, knowing how much he regretted it. He could trust her to never casually go there when it came to what he had afflicted on her. Instead, she had smiled and kissed his cheek…

"Wow! Look!" Natsuo called, running ahead now that it was clear which house was theirs. Simple to pick out, because it was the only house in sight.

"Sasuke…"

"Yes?" He had known that she wouldn't be completely pleased, but he had decided that there was one concession he needed to make for himself, and this was it.

"When you said that you didn't want to live in the Uchiha district, I thought—"

"It's much closer to the hospital," Sasuke said quickly.

She rolled her green eyes at him. "It's the only house on the street!"

"It's big," Tsuneo said, but he had also started to pick up speed, and had abandoned his parents a moment later to dash after his brother.

"Yeah, it's big! How many bedrooms does this house have?" Sakura said incredulously.

"More than we need."

"When you start getting vague with me, that's when I know you've tricked me!"

"I didn't trick you, Sakura. I told you I didn't want to live in the district. We aren't there."

"Right, but you knew that I would think that meant living …oh I don't know, among the general population?!"

"If you're upset," Sasuke said abruptly, the words leaving his mouth before he could think about them, "we can go wherever in Konoha you want to live. I liked the house."

He knew that he wasn't fooling her. She stopped walking and faced off with him, so he did the same. She looked him in the eyes and read him. He let her read whatever she could.

He wasn't ready for a house in the middle of everything. He wanted something that could give them some semblance of the life they had before returning. He wanted to pretend sometimes that it was just them, or that her multitude of friends would at least have to walk a distance to break in, unannounced. Having someone like Yamanaka Ino within village borders was going to present a challenge to his patience… not to mention their knuckleheaded teammate.

And what's more, even if he had come back to the village, he didn't know if the rest of Konoha was necessarily fine with that… He doubted Kakashi had taken a poll.

His wife's popularity could only go so far, and if things weren't ideal, he wanted his children to be able to find some space from whatever fallout would present itself.

These were all the reasons he wasn't going to explain.

She prodded the inside of her cheek with her tongue for a moment. "It's a beautiful house," she said finally, and her eyes matched the words—matched the world in bloom all around them. She resumed their pace and he fell into step next to her. "But don't get mad if I have an accident and break it."

"Are you planning to break our house?"

She laughed. "Of course not, Anata! …as long as you don't make me want to punch something."

He saw her point. "If you ever get the urge …punch me, instead of the house."

Her hand twined together with his. "But I think I still like you better than the house."

"Hn."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The next day, Tsuneo and Natsuo met Inojin, Ino-basan's son who was their age. Inojin liked to draw and he said that his father was an artist too, but he was on a mission. Tsuneo liked him better than Boruto, but they would all be in the same class at the Academy. He remembered Kaachan's words about giving everyone a chance, even people who you didn't like at first.

They bought a lot of stuff too, for their house. And they met people who were up early in the morning, some who seemed afraid to approach and others who looked curious about him. One person, an older lady who stood outside the house, asked him if he was one of the Uchiha sons.

Tousan didn't like that, he could tell the way his head tilted toward them as he passed by. But both Tousan and Kaachan were carrying boxes and they were too busy to come talk to anyone.

"You have the Uchiha eyes," the obaasan told him. "It's been a while since we've seen them around here. Tell me boy, do you have the sharingan?"

Tsuneo knew, that's what people called it when Tousan's one eye went red. Tousan had said that both of his eyes used to be able to do that, but he got a different eye when he was older. Tsuneo had wanted to hear more, but Natsuo turned white and looked like he'd be sick, so Kaachan stopped the discussion. Tsuneo remembered feeling a little annoyed that his tousan wouldn't say anything more after that.

Maybe this lady knew more about it.

"I don't think so," Tsuneo said, wondering what to ask first and settling for the question that would be most useful. "How do I get one?"

Instead of explaining, the obaasan looked surprised and hunched toward him further. "Your father hasn't told you anything about your family dojutsu? Anything at all?"

The boy frowned, feeling defensive for his father even if he didn't understand why. "He's told us some things—"

"Tsuneo!" Kaachan was calling to him, hands on her hips as she stood on the threshold. "Aren't you going to help?! Natsuo has already gone back and forth four times!"

As if on cue, his brother raced past him for another package, small stacks of them settled out where the truck had left them by the street. Well, he was gonna lose this time…

He always lost to Natsuo when they played these types of games. The grandmother's wrinkled face turned too, and followed his brother's blurry figure.

"He has the look, doesn't he? Except those green eyes." She smiled back at Tsuneo. "Your mother saved my grandson during the war. She's a wonderful medic, you know."

"Yes, Obaasan," he bowed to her. He was really proud of his mother, but he didn't want his parents to ask him what they had been talking about all this time. "I have to go now, thank you for saying 'hello'."

She nodded, with one final look at the house. "So polite. You be a good boy now and say 'hi' sometimes."

"I will!"

Uncle Naruto showed up just as she tottered away, acting upset that they had started putting things away without him. Naruto-jisan was a very fun guy, and he let Tsuneo see a little tadpole before Kaachan told him to stop wasting time. He hadn't brought Boruto with him, because he was punished for the paint from yesterday. Tsuneo was kind of glad, but he didn't smile about it like Natsuo did.

It wasn't until later that Tsuneo thought about the old lady again. Since they didn't have any close neighbors, he didn't know why she had come so far out of the way just to talk to him about whether he had Tousan's red eye? Well, he didn't know why she had really come all that way…

For some reason, he didn't think it was a good idea to ask Tousan about it. Something told him that asking would mean never getting any answers.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"I remember her," Sakura said. "I treated her grandson… it was after the war—or sometime during…"

"You think she came here to thank you?" Sasuke asked. He was sitting on the new couch, stiffer than normal. Sakura shook her head, scribbling some reminders in a notebook. She wanted to meet up with Tsunade as soon as possible, but there was a lot to be done at the house. Why Sasuke had to make the house so big, she didn't quite understand, but if it was going to look even halfway-furnished, they needed several more things.

All of the funds of the Uchiha clan had been frozen upon Sasuke's defection, and she discovered that he had plenty to spare. Kakashi had freed it up almost immediately, but their travel costs had been low and both had been making a steady income anyway. This was the first extravagant purchase that Sakura had ever seen Sasuke make. They could afford to furnish the house, but she wasn't sure how they would find the time to arrange it all…

"Sakuraaaaa…" Sasuke drew out her name, something he did at times when her mind drifted to some problem (usually work-related) and forgot that he was speaking to her. It sounded almost sing-song, even though she knew he wouldn't be caught dead doing something like that. She drew back from the paper, giving him her attention.

"Sorry. If she had wanted to thank me again for something I did years ago, she would have done that. She was probably just curious…"

"Curious." He said it like a curse word.

She clicked the pen once and dropped it on the table. "Yes, curious, Sasuke. Do you expect no one to be curious?"

"She approached the boys."

Sakura rose to her feet and padded to the kitchen. "Hold on, I need a drink for this conversation."

"We have alcohol? And glasses?"

"Ino. Housewarming gift."

"Hn. When she visited, the house was bare."

She poured for them both, wine, and returned, handing him one of the glasses. It was 50/50 whether he would drink it at all. "She has her priorities, Anata. Please just be nice. I know you don't like her—"

"I don't know Yamanaka."

"—but she's my best friend and she's pretty great."

"That's what you tell me…"

Sakura smiled wider, because he looked so grumpy, and leaned over him on her knees just to pinch his cheek. He looked even more unhappy at her levity and so she sobered up, leaning back on her heels. "Sweetheart, you can't expect that nobody in Konoha is going to approach the boys…"

"You mean people we don't know," he pointed out.

"Didn't I say that I knew her?" His face remained carved from stone. "She meant no harm at all. I heard her ask Tsuneo to say 'hi' when he saw her again. She was smiling! And I don't want either of them to feel like they can't relax here. This is their home. We're Leaf nin, Sasuke-kun. Now that we're here, do you want them to feel the way you have?"

"Of course not." He blinked, looking slightly uncertain. "I want them to feel like you do about the village."

"And what do you feel?" Her jaw ached, and she realized she had been clenching it. She took a large swallow from her glass and stared at the floor.

She had been through this, they had been through this. But she was still insecure that Sasuke had no idea what he had gotten himself into. She didn't want him to turn around one day and decide that he couldn't stand it anymore.

His fingers brushed at the hair by her temple. He couldn't reach the seal on her head this time. "I feel …the same way I've felt. You're my home."

She released a tremulous sigh and nodded. "That's good."

"Then look at me, and not the floor."

The tenderness on his face was breathtaking. In moments like this, when all of the horror of his life was melted away from him, she could believe that he felt whole and safe again… It made her feel that way too.

She laughed and it still sounded a little shaky. "I love you too. Even if your protocol for strangers is a little extreme."

"Too extreme," he admitted. "You were right."

"And I love when you sound just like a normal husband, Sasuke-kun! It gives me ideas," she teased.

"Aa… Like what?"

"If you'd stop nursing that wine, you might find out…"

A/N: I had the beginnings of the plot in here, but it was running too long, so you'll probably see it in the next chapter. Fun abounds!