Okay, a few things I don't think I've mentioned. I haven't even gotten to the part of the story where Sai is introduced, so some of this is based off clips, amv's and spoilers. Sorry about things I may have gotten wrong. Secondly, some of the story is a little off, as I changed small details to fit the fic. One last thing. To any super die hard narusaku or nothing fans, you may not want to read this. I'm not a Sakura hater, and I'm a narusaku fan, but this fic is probably not gonna go in a happy narusaku direction. You've been warned.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

We are both silent. She's staring at me like she doesn't believe I'm really there. I guess Koyumi held up her end of the bargain.

"N..n… Naruto?" She chokes out "How? Wha-"

I cut her off with an embrace "I've missed you. Oh god I've missed you so much Sakura." I know I should probably be angry, but that can come later. I pull back. She looks much the same as she always has, except her cherry blossom hair is a little longer then I last saw it.

"Naruto what are you doing here? How did you find me?" She says, still looking baffled.

"Koyumi."

She freezes at the mention of the child's name.

"Can I come inside?"

She nods slowly.

I walk inside and she leads me to a small dining table in the kitchen.

"Tell me the truth, Sakura. Is Koyumi my daughter?" I ask, though I already know the answer.

"Yes." She replies, not looking at me.

"So why did you leave? Why did you hide her from me?"

"Why? Oh, gee, I don't know Naruto, why do you think? I was young. I was scared. The one person in the world I had ever truly been in love with died right in front of me. You pick a reason."

"Well, no need to get snippy at me." I can already tell that this is going to be a less than pleasant reunion. "Don't you think that maybe I would have liked to know I have a daughter?"

"Call me crazy, but you weren't the first thing on my mind at the time." She says, almost sounding spiteful.

This pisses me off. "No? Why not? Because I'm not Sasuke? I bet he would have been first on your mind if you had gotten knocked up by him."

"Naruto, don't you-"

"Oh, save it Sakura. Didn't you ever think that maybe Koyumi would want to know who her father was? Didn't you think that not knowing part of her family might affect her in some way?" I'm getting angrier now. The joy of seeing Sakura again is being overcome by the anger over what she has done. "I loved Sasuke too, but I didn't run off and abandon my friends and family because he died."

She almost looks guilty when she says "I couldn't have loved you Naruto. It would only hurt us both."

I stand up suddenly "Couldn't have loved me?" I say quietly. I slam the side of my fist into the wall "COULDN'T HAVE LOVED ME!?" I glare at her. "I never asked you to love me. Not once. Not when we were little, when you fawned over Sasuke all the time. Not when we were teenagers and you still loved him more than me when he tried to kill us both, and came pretty god damn close to succeeding. Not when you used me and threw me away to help you with your grief, or whatever the reason was. I never asked you to love me. Not one fucking time."

"Naruto, stop…."

"No. Tears and sad eyes and "please Naruto" aren't going to work this time around. You had your chance. What I want now" I look her right in the eye "is my rights as a father. I don't care if you come back to the village. I don't care. What I do care about is being a part of Koyumi's life. Being allowed to see her and spend time with her. She wants to be a ninja. I could give her that chance."

Sakura's head snaps up "I don't want that girl to have anthing to do with ninjas. I don't even want her to learn the simplest taijutsu. Nothing."

"That's not you choice alone to make." I say. "Tomorrow I'll be back. I'm going to tell Koyumi who I am. No matter what you want."

I leave before she has a chance to respond.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

It's past midnight by the time I reach the inn we are staying at. I can see lights on in our room. Sai and Kakashi must have taken the guarding in shifts. I get inside and open the door. Kakashi is there.

He looks up from Make Out Paradise when I come in. "Naruto! You're back! What happened?"

My intention was to remain calm. Just tell them the basics of what happened. But I can't. Staying composed in the face of a deadly battle is nothing compared to trying to suppress my emotions now. I try to suppress the shaking as I sit on my bed, facing Kakashi, but before I know it, I've broken into heavy sobs and tears are pouring down my face.

"Naruto? Naruto, what happened?"

I tell him what happened with Sakura. He seems taken aback.

"I…. I never thought that she would do something like that. Although I can understand why she wouldn't want the girl to be a ninja, after what you guys went through. What are you going to do?"

"Tomorrow, I'm going to talk to Koyumi." I reply, slowly regaining my composure "I have to tell her who I am."

"I see." He pauses "Tell me about her."

"Huh?" I say, confused.

"Tell me about Koyumi. You met her, right? What is she like?"

I smile slightly. "She's beautiful. She looks just like me, except for the color of her eyes. They're green like Sakura's. Apparently, Sakura told her stories about the Leaf Village, and that's why she wants to go there and be a ninja. She even said she wants to be Hokage. And she loves ramen. Sound familiar?"

Kakashi smiles. "She sounds just like you did when you were little."

"Yeah!" I grin. And a real grin this time, not a young Sai like fake grin.

I explain the whole thing to Sai after he returns, minus the sobbing.

"Well" he says "Let me know if I can help in any way, and I will."

"Thanks, Sai."

Maybe, just maybe, with the help of my friends, I will be able to pull this off.