A/N: Here's the next chapter, which delves into Choji's exact fears with Sasuke's visit looming on the horizon. I also decided to give a bit of backstory on my OC and in this story, Choji's biological daughter. I decided to change her name to Cholauna, since using the already existing character's name, Chocho for a character who looks completely different is somewhat lazy. I will also make the appropriate changes in the other chapters.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this one.

Present Day

Despite the advances in technology, including security cameras and alarm systems, Naruto still believed that a steadfast shinobi with a friendly, outgoing exterior would allow Konoha to shown as a peaceful village to all travelers. As a result, it was one of the things he kept the same after taking the Hokage office. A decision that a certain big-boned Akimichi agreed with, as he glanced up at the approach of two of his comrades and friends.

Choji gave nothing more than a polite nod to Kiba and Shino as the two shinobi arrived to relieve him and Sai at the guard post next to the main entrance of the village. If Kiba and Shino were concerned by the almost-cold greeting from the normally friendly Akimichi, they didn't show it, merely returning the nod. Still, both men couldn't help but feel concerned for their friend.

With Choji's attention returning to what he was doing, it fell on Sai to take care of the social niceties, which was still interesting to say the least, even after all these years. While his ROOT training of ignoring all emotion was more or less gone at this point, Sai was never much of a people person to begin with, despite marrying a social butterfly like Ino. None-the-less, he did his best to make small talk to the other shinobi as Choji absently filled out the guard report without really looking at it.

Unbeknownst to the other three men, Choji's mind was dwelling on the news he had received from Sakura yesterday after dinner:

Choji and Sakura stood side-by-side over the sink, washing and drying the dishes after another delicious meal. Their daughters, Sarada and Cholauna had already asked to be excused and had gotten their parents' permission to go outside after they finished eating.

Normally, Choji or Sakura would make their offspring assist with cleaning up after a meal, but from the way his wife had been acting, Choji suspected that she had something important to tell him in private. If either girl was curious as to their Mom's sudden generosity at not assigning them work, they didn't say anything for fear of being told to do chores after all.

After extracting promises to be home before 10, Choji and Sakura saw their daughters to the door, before shutting it behind them. "What's wrong Sakura?" Choji asked as they took a seat on the T.V room couch.

Sakura looked down at their now clasped hands before answering, "I received a letter from Sasuke saying that he wants to see Sarada fight in the Chunin exams." Sakura looked up with a panicked expression on her face, though Choji wasn't sure why. Before he could comment on it, she told him the reason: "I uh…haven't told him that we're married…"

Choji's closed his eyes in exasperation, his mind already thinking about the positives and negatives of keeping it a secret. "Sakura…" he sighed.

She averted her eyes, ashamed. "I was scared okay! I figured that since Sasuke wasn't around anyway, I saw no reason to tell him about my personal life. He really only asked about Sarada, so I figured that anything else wasn't his business.

Choji opened his eyes and stared at her with slight disappointment. "Well, what have you told him?"

She replied, "Only updates concerning Sarada, and that I've had plenty of help with everything. I'm not lying, I'm just…omitting some details…"

Choji gently rubbed her knuckles with a large thumb, as he digested this information. It was somewhat insulting that Sakura hadn't seen fit to tell Sasuke about him, especially since he played such a huge role in raising his only child, the man deserved that much. However, it wasn't in his nature to stay mad for long. Finally, he said in a gentle tone, "Do you know when he'll arrive?"

Sakura sighed in relief, apparently glad that Choji wasn't upset with her anymore. "Only that it was going to be in the next couple days," came the slightly-nervous reply.

Choji smiled in understanding, before giving Sakura a comforting hug and a peck on the lips. "Well, we'll deal with it when he gets here. At the very least, Sarada will be able to meet her birth father in person.* That'll be good, right…?" (end flashback)

O.O.O.O.O

'but will it really?' Choji wasn't sure. Knowing he couldn't do anything about it now, he tried to push his troubled thoughts away and focus on the task at hand.

Eventually, Choji finished the guard report and bade Kiba and Shino goodbye, before he and Sai headed for their usual watering hole in one of the more developed areas in Konoha.

With Shikamaru's promotion to Hokage's assistant, Choji rarely saw his lazy friend anymore. Instead, it was usually Sai that he found himself in the company of, mainly due to his wife's connection to him as a teammate, and of course his own teammate's marriage to the man.

The two shinobi walked in companionable silence as the Akimichi mulled over Sasuke's upcoming return. It has been over a decade since he saw the Uchiha last, and it was strange for him to just show up out of the blue after so long. As far as Choji knew, Sasuke hadn't been in direct contact with Sakura at all since Sarada's birth. He supposed letters may have been exchanged, but to have him suddenly express his desire to be a part of their lives again made Choji feel uneasy, which led him to go to Sai for advice.

While Choji had initially steered clear of Sai in their younger days, he had grown to respect the former ROOT member for his efforts in the war and his habit for providing brutally honest conversation. The two had a fine friendship and of course, enjoyed the occasional drink after work.

It was a desire for this unfiltered honesty that brought Choji to the conclusion that he needed someone else's opinion for the current predicament he found himself in. After sitting down in their usual booth and ordering their drinks, he got straight to the point, knowing Sai would appreciate it. "Sasuke is coming back for the first time in ten years, and I'm afraid that I'm going to lose most of my family in the process."

Choji nervously nursed his non-alcoholic drink as he waited for Sai to process this information. Privately, he admitted to himself that the socially-stunted ROOT operative probably wasn't the best person to ask for relationship advice, but Sai and Ino appeared to have a stable relationship, so the large Akimichi was willing to give him a chance.

The wait wasn't long as Sai took a sip of his drink and replied with "How is Sakura taking the news?"

"She looked pretty terrified when she told me last night. I think she's afraid of the same thing, but I'd be lying if I said she wasn't looking forward to it as well." It was hard to tell for someone who didn't know Sakura, but for Choji, who had been married to her for over ten years, could read those slight changes in her facial expression. While fear was still the dominant emotion, he could also tell she was eager to see him again as well. "I don't know how I feel about that…" he admitted.

Both men were silent for a couple more minutes, nursing their drinks and allowing the cheerful music to wash over them. A few more customers shuffled in as the bar steadily began to fill up. The bar began to steadily fill up as more weary citizens, fresh off of work arrived to unwind after a stressful day. With the increased crowd, the bartender flipped on the television and changed it to a talk-show portraying an interview with Naruto.

"Well, if you're worried about Sasuke coming back into their lives and taking them away from you, I wouldn't be. Sakura isn't some brainless, love struck teen; not anymore. She's well aware of how much you've given to her and her daughter. Sarada is also intelligent enough to realize who actually deserves the title of father," explained Sai as he finished his drink.

"Indeed," Sai continued, after he saw Choji's expression. "Whenever I see her, Sakura always mentions how helpful you are and all the nice things you've done for her and Sarada. Usually, I tell her how annoying it is after a while," the artist concluded.

Choji looked down at his half-empty glass, ashamed. Sakura and Sarada leaving him in favor of Sasuke had been one of his chief fears. The Akimichi knew that Sakura wasn't like that anymore, though he had been guilty of thinking she would be. His wife had told him on several occasions how difficult it was to shake the fangirl reputation and how it occasionally plagues her to this day. Still, he was pretty sure this wasn't an irrational fear, not after what happened a couple years back:

Flashback

Choji came home absolutely exhausted. He was assigned a two-week long B rank mission of protecting some distant relative of the Fire Daimyo. The egotistical and superior nonsense that the man had spouted without pause, was enough to nearly dry up even Choji's deep well of patience.

After crossing the threshold, he noticed Sakura staring at him with a lustful gleam in her eyes. Judging from her own haggard appearance, Choji had guessed that her shift at the hospital had been every bit as stressful. It was clear she wanted him and wanted him now. This was fine with Choji of course, seeing as how he was thinking along the same lines.

Almost as if there was some non-existent cue, they crossed the room and immediately met in a passionate embrace of kissing and touching. Clothes were strewn randomly, as Sakura absently whispered that the kids were at Hinata and Naruto's house at her request. Scooping her up bridal style, Choji carried her upstairs to their bedroom…

O.O.O.O

Choji grunted as Sakura rode atop him, her small breasts bouncing in time with his thrusts from below. The Akimichi barely had time to warn Sakura, before he released inside of her, which was enough to bring her to climax as well.

"Give it to me! Sasuk-e-e-e!" she cried out, as she collapsed on top of him, utterly spent.

Choji felt as if a bucket of ice water was dumped on his head, as the fog of lust gave way to cold shock. He looked up at her with a hurt expression, only to find her eyes already closed and in the process of dozing off. It appeared she had no idea that she had called out a different name, and after a few minutes of reasoning himself out of his negative feelings he wrote it off as a heat of the moment thing.

By the time Choji felt himself start to fade, he was ready to forget all about it, until Sakura's next mumbled sentence kept him from sleep the remainder of the night.

"I love you Sasuke…".

End Flashback

Whether or not she was aware of what had been said was moot point to Choji. It's true you could have excused her actions, since both of them were stressed out and just looking for release, but there have been a few other times over the years during other love-making sessions, that Sasuke's name had slipped out. Each time she had immediately apologized, which Choji had forgiven, but after that she would clam up and refuse to let him touch her in any way.

These incidents were incredibly rare and they hadn't happened in years, but they still happened. While Choji was reasonably confident in Sakura's feelings for him, news of Sasuke's reappearance drove to the surface, old doubts and fears that he hadn't felt in ages.

Stuffing away these insecurities, the Akmichi tried to focus on his comrade's words. "Maybe your right, Sai. Anyway, I'm going to head home. Thanks for the advice, and tell Ino I said hi." Choji drained the rest of his drink in a single gulp and insisted that he be the one to pay for the drinks as a way of thanks.

"Take care Choji, and if you're still not sure of Sakura's feelings, you could always screw her brains out! That might convince her!" said Sai with a grin. Choji sighed, and rolled his eyes but thanked him for the statement anyway.

O.O.O.O

With one last wave, he departed the bar and stepped out into the busy streets of the Village. The sun in the process of setting and the air turned cool as Choji did his best to move around the populace without bumping into anyone. At a towering 6'5,'' Choji felt like a giant among men as he headed for the Akimichi district of Konoha.

After they married, Choji was able to convince Sakura to move from Konoha's outskirts and settle in clan territory, much closer to the hospital and surrounded by kind neighbors. It took some doing, but the arrival of Cholauna caused them to move almost out of necessity.

Choji's biological daughter was two years younger than Sarada, and hopefully one-third of the next Ino-Shika-Cho formation. Despite the two-year age difference between her and most of her class, Cholauna turned out to be a prodigy and had thankfully inherited her mother's keen mind, allowing her to advance to Genin at the age of 8. Now at 10 years old, she was taking the Chunin exam alongside Sarada, and he couldn't be more proud of them both.

Choji knew it would also break her heart if she was separated from her step-sister. Sarada and Cholauna were closer than many blood-related siblings and rarely fought one another.

Despite Sai's comforting words, he couldn't help but imagine the worst-case scenarios, each one worse than the last. Mechanically, Choji arrived at his destination and punched in the five-digit number into the electronic keypad with a sigh. Hearing the familiar dull thunk of the lock sliding away, he let himself inside, no closer to finding a solution to his dilemma than he had at the start of the day.

A/N: Well, I hope this was an enjoyable chapter and this time, I tried not to end on a cliff hanger. I'm hoping I portrayed an adult Sai fairly well in this one, even if he wasn't around for long. I think 15 years of not being a part of ROOT would be enough time for his training in not displaying emotions to be mostly undone. Additionally, 15 years of socializing would be long enough to gain some social tact, even if he doesn't always use it.

*I just want to point out here that I'm going with the fact that Sasuke stopped visiting when Sarada was around two, so her memories of him in this story will be fuzzy at best.

I also wanted to provide a bit of background to Choji's biological daughter. While I don't think she'll play a huge role in this story, I think it's worth mentioning.

Next time, we see Choji interact directly with his family in the present time.

See you next time,

-Snakespur

Edited with additions: June 8th, 2017