Sorry this chapter is late. I only got back from vacation late on Sunday and have been writing like mad all week to catch up. Enjoy.

The next part of her story was equal parts happy and sorrowful. Containing life instead of death, though the latter eventually reared its ugly head again. But, before she began, she needed to tell the students a little more about Sasuke than they learned of him from academy curriculum, which covered his tragic history, his placement on Team Seven, and his betrayal and finally return during the war.

"As you all know, after the war, Sasuke truly was the last Uchiha." Ridiculous as it was, the pinkette had prayed often that no other psychotic relatives would pop out of the woodworks.

"One of his goals was to revive the Uchiha clan."

My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are lots of things I dislike and I don't really like anything. And. . I can't really call it a dream. . but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and. . . . to kill a certain man.

She remembered his introduction like it had been yesterday. "That had changed in the aftermath of the Fourth War. For the longest time, after his house arrest ended, tough he hadn't moved out, Sasuke avoided the topic whenever Naruto brought it up, insisting that the Uchiha and the Sharingan would die with him, and so would some of the world's hatred."

Sakura sighed explosively. "But hatred is not so easily forgotten. It must be overcome."

"So he confessed his love to you? That's so sweet!" a girl tittered, causing the other girls in the class to burst into excited squealing. Sakura sweatdropped, having forgotten what it was like to be that age and to jump to romantic conclusions all the time.

"Not quite."

Sakura had felt, quite reasonably in her opinion, that nothing could surprise her anymore. Not after the last few years.

Gai had found a mask exactly like Kakashi's, only green, and had taken to wearing in remembrance of his Eternal Rival and Best Friend. Wonderful gesture though it was, she liked to pretend she had never seen it, and so did the rest of Konoha.

None of her current housemates had moved out after Team Hebi's glorified house arrest ended. At first they claimed they couldn't leave her alone while she was still coping with their sensei's death. But time passed and the excuses stopped coming and together they wound up buying the house and living their permanently.

It had been six year's since his return. Little by little, Sasuke had regained the trust of his fellow ninja, starting with those in their generation and their senseis. Aside from a couple chuunin and jounin, he hadn't cared what the rest of the village thought of him.

"Can I ask you a favor?"

Sakura paused in her writing, a summation of a surgery she had just performed, looking over her shoulder at Sasuke, who stood before her window, a stark contrast to the rest of her office.

Sasuke rarely asked for helped.

"Of course you can."

"Would you carry a baby for me?"

The pinkette continued to stare at her teammate, as if still waiting for him to speak up. When she finally comprehended what he had said, she toppled out of her chair.

"Excuse me?" was her strangled reply as she hurriedly regained her feet and approached him.

"Would you be willing to have my baby?" he repeated evenly.

Sakura felt faint. She thought, since he had not kissed her since the time she had told Karin off, that they had both moved on. She had, silently pining after Naruto, not that she had ever told the blond. He deserved the world, not a violent girl that punched him through walls every other day.

"I don't love you."

The medic-nin cursed her lack of filter. Sasuke hadn't reacted physically, but he couldn't hide the pain that shone in his eyes.

"That's fine," he said, cutting off her attempts to correct herself.

"Fine?" she echoed.

The last Uchiha lowered his head ever so slightly, and the setting sun cast shadows across his face. "I don't want to get married. But I don't want the clan to end with me. Not anymore. I can start anew; teach them the value of friendship and teamwork and creating bonds with one another."

"So you want a surrogate?" Sakura's heart calmed once she understood. Sasuke's asocial-ness had gotten the better of him and she had misunderstood his intentions. She walked briskly over to her filing cabinets. "If that's the case, I can suggest several women—"

"No. I don't know them."

Sakura frowned. "You'll be able to meet with them."

"I want you," he said firmly. "I know you won't be doing it for the money or the glory and wouldn't demand to be involved in his life somehow."

Only because she would be involved anyway, living in the same house and being part of Team Seven. Naruto would label himself and her the child's honorary uncle and aunt.

"L—let me think about it."

Sasuke nodded, ducking out the window, chakra rapidly receding as he headed towards the training grounds. Sakura slumped at her desk, dug out the bottle of sake she kept in the bottom drawer, and drained it.

Why had he suddenly changed his mind? Why did Sasuke ask her to be his surrogate? How was she going to answer him?

"Why did you say yes?"

Green eyes flitted to the back corner of the room, where a Nara sat, surprisingly attentive.

It was true that none of the students needed to ask what her decision had been. Her son had been rather infamous; the only Uchiha with pink hair. Naruto had thought it hilarious. She had found it fitting, that he would inherit the one trait that made her recognizable.

"Because that had been Sasuke's dream, and I had long since promised that I would become strong enough to stand beside my teammates and make their dreams reality."