Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto. Still don't own Sandman either. Darn.

Warning: This chapter includes SasuSaku.

Chapter 8: The End and the Beginning

Sasuke stood at the front door to his house and watched his daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren walk down the path leading to the street. He smiled fondly as one of the children took a detour into the garden to chase a butterfly. Stepping back inside, he closed the door and went into the kitchen to make some tea.

The house, which had been ringing with the sound of laughter and conversation for the past few hours, was very quiet now. It was at times like these that he missed the presence of his wife the most. Sakura had died two years previously, and Sasuke considered himself lucky that he had such devoted family and friends to help him through the difficult times afterward. He still felt a swell of pride whenever he passed the hospital and saw her name emblazoned over the main entrance--the retired Hokage's doing, he suspected.

Sasuke set some water on the stove to boil, and rummaged through a cabinet to find some tea leaves. He seemed to feel the cold more acutely in his advanced age, and the warm liquid took the edge off the chill.

When Sasuke turned around, a packet of tea leaves in his hand, he was startled to see a young woman sitting at his kitchen counter. She had entered so silently that she must be a ninja, and Sasuke quickly brought his hands together in a seal.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The woman seemed completely unconcerned by the impressive levels of chakra that Sasuke was radiating. "I guess you could say that I'm an old friend of the family."

"Oh? Then why I have I never seen you before? Why don't I remember you from my childhood?" Looking more closely at the woman, Sasuke saw that she was dressed all in black, with matching heavy eyeliner. A silver pendant twisted into an unusual shape hung from a chain around her neck. Despite its jet-black color, her unruly hair reminded him of Naruto's. Sasuke was fairly certain that if someone looking like this had ever entered his immaculate childhood home, his father would have burst a blood vessel.

"I'm quite sure that you remember my previous visits, even if you don't specifically recall seeing me." The woman's gaze was direct and forthright, but also gentle. Although her ability to enter his house without being noticed suggested training as a shinobi, Sasuke sensed no hostile intent from her. Cautiously, he asked, "And what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, Sasuke-san." She stood up and wandered over to the wall where Sasuke had hung pictures of his family. He watched curiously as she examined them, one after another, commenting on some. "This must be Sakura-san. A very intelligent woman, even if she did cause me to make a lot of wasted trips." She moved along to another photo. "Ah, and here are your children. All excellent shinobi--I look forward to meeting them someday." She stopped at the photo in the center. It was in a hideously garish frame that had been a gift from--who else?--Naruto. Sakura had insisted that he actually use the frame ("It's the thought that counts, Sasuke-kun"), and now he didn't have the heart to replace it.

The mysterious visitor ran her fingers softly over each face in the picture. "Did you know my parents?" Sasuke asked, seeing how engrossed she was. She seemed far too young to remember them, yet they clearly meant something to her. It had been a formal picture, taken on the occasion of Sasuke's entrance into the Academy. Fugaku looked stiff and uncomfortable, as always, while Mikoto was smiling serenely. Sasuke sat on her lap, proudly clutching a pouch full of kunai and shuriken. Itachi stood next to Mikoto with one hand on the young Sasuke's shoulder.

"Yes," she answered quietly. "I knew your whole family." Her eyes were sad, and Sasuke realized that if she had known his family, she must have also mourned their deaths.

"What's your name?" Sasuke asked.

"Don't you already know?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Didn't I already tell you, I don't remember ever meeting you before."

The woman ignored this comment, instead saying, "Why don't we go for a walk?"

Sasuke nodded. He didn't sense any intent to do him harm, but he still didn't entirely trust this strange person. Getting her out of his house might not be a bad idea. "All right."

The sun was setting, and there were many people walking the streets, on their way home from jobs or missions. Some of them nodded or waved to Sasuke as they passed, making no comment about the woman who accompanied him.

"So," Sasuke said when the silence got awkward, "you said that you knew my parents. How did you meet them?"

"Oh, I've known them since they were born."

Sasuke cast a skeptical glance at her from the corner of his eye. She didn't look much older than twenty, certainly nowhere near old enough to have been alive when his parents were born. Maybe she really is a ninja, and her youthful appearance is a Henge. "What were they like?"

"Your father could be very stern, but he took his duties as clan head seriously. Your mother was always a more gentle person, but she would have done anything to protect her family--she was a former jounin, after all."

Well, that is certainly an accurate description, Sasuke thought. "If you knew my parents for that long, you must remember when I was born."

"Of course. Your father had just gotten back from a mission, and when he heard that his wife was in labor, he ran from the village gates all the way to the hospital. He ran like the wind, and burst into the delivery room just as you were born."

Sasuke's eyes widened. He had heard this exact same story many times from his mother when he was a child. She really did know them! But how? "And did...did you also know my brother?"

The woman's fond smile faded, and was replaced by a sorrowful expression. "I did. He had a much shorter and much sadder life than he should have."

"I'm sorry," Sasuke said. "At the time, I didn't know--"

"You misunderstand. I'm not blaming you for his death. How could I, when I also have ended the life of a brother?"

Sasuke stopped walking and turned to look at her in shock. "You...?"

"Sometimes," she said, with a far-off look in her eyes, "there are things we don't have any choice about."

They stood in silence for a few moments, and then Sasuke asked, "Why did you come here? Was it really just to reminisce?"

"No. As I said, I came to see you." She took a deep breath, and seemed to gather herself. "Please, come with me." She turned her back on him, and strode towards the front gates of Konoha.

On the one hand, she's had ample opportunity to attack me if that's what she wanted to do. On the other hand, she could be trying to lure me outside the village. But... Recalling the look on her face when she told him about having killed her brother, Sasuke somehow didn't think she was an enemy or a spy. Although he had no memories of her, talking with her was like talking with an old friend.

Sasuke followed her, and frowned when he saw that the front gates were standing wide open and unattended. "What the hell? It's not like the ANBU to be so careless!" He hurried forward, drawing a few kunai that were concealed under his clothing. He might not be an active-duty ninja anymore, but there were some habits that one never forgot.

As he got closer to the gates, he saw that there were indeed people standing outside, flanking the entry in two lines with an aisle between them. But they weren't invaders, and when he realized who they were, his kunai clattered to the ground.

"...Grandfather? Grandmother?" Sure enough, the couple standing nearest the gate were his father's parents, with the same gentle smiles on their faces that he remembered from childhood.

Beyond them were another couple, somewhat younger. One of them was a woman who looked like she could have been his mother's twin. "Aunt? Uncle?"

Beyond them, a boy with spiky hair and goggles perched on top of his head. "Cousin Obito?"

Sasuke could sense his mysterious visitor following along behind him as he walked between the rows of his kinsmen. He was so stunned that he couldn't do anything more than greet each new person who came into view. Ahead of him, he could see the lines ending, the aisle closed off by three people standing shoulder-to-shoulder. One was a tall, stern-faced man with broad shoulders. The second was a small, slim woman with delicate features. And the third...well, he would have known that vibrant pink hair anywhere.

"Mother? Father? Sakura?" Sasuke was surprised to find that there were tears on his cheeks.

Sakura smiled at him, and his father said words that Sasuke only realized now he had been waiting to hear since he was a small child: "We're so proud of you, son."

His mother looked back over her shoulder and beckoned, then stepped aside to let someone standing behind her come forward.

Sasuke's knees buckled, but the woman behind him darted in--and she must be a shinobi after all, with that speed--and gripped his arm to keep him upright. He barely even noticed: he had eyes only for the young man who stood in front of him.

"Brother!"

Itachi smiled--and like Fugaku's words of praise, this was also something that Sasuke had longed to see more than he consciously realized. "Hello, Sasuke-kun."

Shaking, Sasuke demanded, "Why are all of you here? And who is this woman? Did you send her?"

"Send her?" Itachi replied. "Not quite. It would be more correct to say that she sent us."

And now, Sasuke finally knew who this strange and unexpected visitor was.

Behind him, he heard the sound of her wings--but in the company of his parents, his wife, and his brother, he was not afraid.

A/N: I'm so sorry that I let this go so long without an update! And yes, it's another Sasuke chapter--as I said at the beginning, this fic is less structured than "A Rain of Endless Leaves," so characters from either series may appear in multiple chapters.

Regarding Death's comment that Sakura forced her to make "a lot of wasted trips", I was referring to the fact that Sakura's a medical specialist--I figured Death would keep showing up in the mortal realm, only to find that Sakura healed the person she was intending to take. And the reason Sasuke doesn't sense any "killing intent" from her even though she's coming to end his life is because Death isn't a hostile person--she doesn't feel any anger or hate towards the people she takes, on the contrary she likes everybody.

Hopefully, the next update won't take so long...