Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters within. Just a fan with an excess of imagination and a penchant for writing thoughts down.

Sorry this took longer to get up than I had planned. I got a job! I'm finally a productive member of society again! :D yay! It's been a rough go, as I'm a science teacher and I jumped into this job 2 months into the school year, but it is so rewarding! I'm hoping to get the next chapter up within the next week or so, but don't quote me on that. Life is hard and sometimes we don't get to do things we want to. Anyways, ENJOY!

Review responses:

KuroAkari: I'm glad that you love the story! I've always been a huge fan of Naruto, and I felt like Sasuke and Sakura got the short end of the stick with their "happily ever after", so I'm determined to give them a better outcome! I'll endeavor to keep them in character as best as I can, although Sasuke may have a bit more softness and warmth than some people associate with him. (I think he's a bigger softy than he wants us to know)

Eelaiiii: you are welcome! I'm not letting the carpal tunnel keep me down!

Guest: Aeee! Haha i'm glad you are excited to see more!

-/b/-

Naruto was absolutely exhausted. Kakashi-sensei was a bastard. A rat bastard. A perverted rat bastard...that needed to get pranked. HARD. The prank had to be perfect. No simple erasers-on-top-of-a-cracked-door level prank would do. It would have to be elaborate...devious even. That asshole had forced hours of pervert lecture time on him, and he was afraid some of it had sunk into his brain. He had tuned out as much as he could, but some of the things Kakashi had described had kept Naruto awake last night. Some of those perverted ideas didn't seem so bad when his brain added the love of his life into the mix. Hinata had already agreed to move in with him. He had a ring sitting in its box and every intention of asking her eventually. Logically speaking, this meant that at some point in his future, he and Hinata would get married...and married people had sex. SEX. Sex with HINATA.

Naruto quickly veered his line of thought away from dangerous territory. Those thoughts had led to a nose bleed, followed by a sleepless night. Hinata was so pure...so perfect. How could he even think about dirtying her with his horny thoughts? How could he not? The woman was gorgeous, loving, courageous, and madly in love with him since childhood. It had taken a lot longer for him to catch on to it, and then return her feelings. He wasn't exactly the most observant guy, even though she had been painfully obvious in her actions. Once he finally realized what all her blushes and stuttering had been about, and what the fuzzy fluttering in the pit of his stomach was...it had still taken her jumping into his battle with Pein before he really started connecting the dots. After the end of the war, the two of them had talked long and intensely about their mutual feelings and what to do. Dating was the logical first step, and it was going amazingly. Naruto knew this was the woman he wanted to spend his life with. Hinata was his other half. The second step was to move in with each other. This step was huge, and led to thoughts of what the next couple steps entailed. Moving in, marriage, sex, family. All the things Naruto had never thought he would have in his future.

As a child, he had spent many a long night wondering if he would always be alone. Fighting for every single thing in his life. Kids had never occurred to him, had never appeared in any of his imaginings of what being Hokage would be for him. He had never doubted that he would become Hokage when he became an adult. He had just always seen himself alone in that position. Now things were completely different. Hinata slid right in and fit him perfectly. He could have the same loving connection that his parents had shared before his birth. Thoughts of his parents always brought a moment of melancholy. There were so many things he had missed out on by not having them in his life. Yet, not many people were able to say that they had the chance to converse and meet their dead parents. So at least he knew that they were proud of him and that they loved him more than anything. A smile bloomed across his face as he stretched out on the top of his dad's statue head. His life was really moving in the right direction, even with Kakashi trying to rupture his brain with pervert crap. Now...what kind of prank could he come up with to pay Kakashi back appropriately…something that would be a great send off for Sasuke and Sakura. Yeah, it needed to be EPIC.

-/b/-

Sakura cleaning dishes from last night when a knock on the door startled her from her thoughts. The girls had left after straightening up a bit, and Sakura had been thinking about how they had helped her pack all her things. The mental list she had of all she needed had nearly every item scratched off. She set the glass and the drying towel down before moving toward the door. Looking through the peephole revealed the stoic figure of Sasuke. Sakura quickly opened the door with a smile on her face.

"Sasuke! I wasn't expecting you, but come in."

Sasuke softed at the smile that lit Sakura's face. She never failed to lift his spirits without even meaning to. He had not intended on coming to her apartment, but as he walked aimlessly through the village he found his feet bringing him to her door. They weren't leaving for another day or so, but he had apparently needed to be in her presence. There was this calming feeling that descended upon him when he was in her presence. There was no concrete explanation for why, only a vague feeling that he was probably being enveloped in her love and caring for him. It was quite possibly the best feeling Sasuke had ever had. The woman in front of him had so many hidden talents that even she was unaware of. A true treasure for his tortured soul. He had already paid respects to his family and clan, and he was ready to leave, but he had given Sakura another day to get her life in order before they departed. He looked over and noticed her finishing some dishes.

"Would you like some help with those?"

Sakura started a bit. He had never volunteered to help with dishes like this before.

"Sure, would you like to clean or dry?"

"Dry, if that's alright with you?"

"Of course!"

Sakura hummed contentedly as she cleaned the dishes in her sink and handed them one by one to Sasuke for drying. This felt so incredibly domestic to being doing, together. It felt like a small, but significant, step forward in whatever it was between them. Sakura was so incredibly happy to think that in a short amount of time, this man would set out on a journey of healing. A journey to fix the wrongs he had committed over the last few years. She was sure that she was going to learn things about Sasuke that no one else knew. Many of them were probably not stellar moments in his life, but he felt safe with her having knowledge of them. That spoke to her of a deeply seated connection between them, maybe deeper than she had thought. Her entire childhood had been spent thinking about a future spent with this man, of sharing a home and a family, of working together and spending the years growing old and making memories. Most of her childhood imaginings didn't hold up under the weight of reality. Sasuke was a flawed man with many skeletons in his past. He had done things that would make many others turn away from him in fear and loathing. Yet, he was still a bit of the man she had always imagined he would be. He valued his friends, had plans for the future, and those plans included her. He had gentled since the war, having come to realizations about his own behavior and the flaws in his plans. This was an entirely new venture for both of them...and it felt right. Suddenly, Sakura just wanted to leave. She didn't want to stay here another night. The desire to get started on their future was so strong she wasn't sure she could contain herself.

"Uhhh...Sasuke?"

Sasuke turned toward her with a question in his eyes.

"Do we have to wait another day?"

Sasuke's eyes widened a bit, and he seemed surprised by her question. He was silent for several long moments...almost too long.

"I mean, Tsunade is taking care of the hospital and my parents are going to pack all of the things I'm leaving behind, so I don't have to worry about those things. The girls helped me pack my belongings I am taking with me this morning, and I don't really have anything left to do...an-"

Sasuke's fingers pressed gently against her lips, effectively silencing her. His gaze spoke of amusement, and there was a small quirk at the corner of his lips.

"I was ready to leave yesterday, until someone important reminded me that I was about to leave something irreplaceable behind. If you are sure you want to leave, then we may do so."

Sakura felt like she would melt onto the floor. He had called her irreplaceable. That sounded so special. He could have worded that any number of ways, and yet he had chosen the word 'irreplaceable'. A sigh of happiness was impossible to contain, and she was sure that if he could blush, he would be. His hand came up and scratched the back of his neck as he shifted from side to side a bit.

"I'm sure. I am ready to start this journey with you Sasuke. I am ready to travel by your side, wherever we go."

"Then grab your things, and we can head over to the Dobe's apartment to pick up mine."

"We can also say a final bye to Naruto and Kakashi-sensei to let them know we are heading out. If we don't, we will never hear the end of it from Naruto."

"We can't have that."

Sakura laughed with pure joy. This was not at all where she expected to be only 2 days ago. Her life had taken a crazy turn or two in such a short time, but she was really looking forward to seeing what was ahead. She ran back to her room and grabbed her pack and everything she would need for their travels. As she walked back to the living room, she caught Sasuke staring at a picture of Team 7 that she had on the wall by the door. They had been so young back then, naive to the trials and tribulations that life would throw their way.

"I'm ready!"

Sasuke turned and cracked a small smile.

"Let's hope the Dobe is home. I'm not going to go searching for him. If he isn't there, that's his own fault."

"Sasuke! He might just hunt us down if we don't say goodbye!"

"He'll be too busy getting Hinata moved into his place. He won't have time to worry about us."

Sasuke and Sakura left her apartment, locking the door behind them. As they walked side by side towards Naruto's apartment, Sakura could feel the folds of Sasuke's cloak brushing her arm. She was lost in thought until she felt the warmth of a hand enclose hers. Surprise had her whipping her head sideways to stare at Sasuke. He turned slightly to make eye contact, his gaze warm and happy, before he turned back to face forward. Sakura felt a blush break out on her face as she continued walking. Yeah, she could get used to this, but it might take a bit.