Sasuke and his wife had left the Nakayama daimyo weeks ago. He was excited for the opportunity to meet a less hostile branch of the Otsutsuki clan. If they lived in another galaxy, it might be through the use of their Rinnegan that allowed them to travel between dimensions. Intergalactic travel simply wasn't possible traveling at the speed of light with living beings. He'd discussed his theory with Sakura — she'd been there during that insane battle against Madara and Kaguya and with all the teleporting.

The branch descended from Hamura Otsutsuki had settled on the moon and been the ancestors of the Hyuuga clan in Konoha. They had learned more about them than they wanted when Hinata's little sister had been kidnapped by Toneri Otsutsuki— whom had completely misunderstood his ancestor's desire to protect the earth, not obliterate it. Sasuke had started a journal dedicated just to them and whatever history they'd been able to dredge up on the other-world family. The Uchiha clan evolved from Hagoromo's eldest son Indra, the Uzumaki and Senji clans were from Asura— the younger son. All three of those clans had virtually been wiped out. The only survivors - himself, Naruto and Karin, and Lady Tsunade.

Sasuke brought his thoughts back to the present. He was worried about Sakura. She wasn't much of a talker for the past few hours. Her contractions started and they still needed to get to Orochimaru's lab. They'd gone to the western most lab, but Karin wasn't there. It was most likely she was at a lab further south and east. It was at least a hundred kilometers away. They would not make it on foot and while he wasn't averse to delivering the baby himself if everything was going well — something was wrong.

"Stop." Sasuke caught up to Sakura and wrapped his arm around her waist. She braced one hand against a tree and bent forward as another contraction seized her. "I have an idea."

"I think we just need to stop here, find a comfortable field, and you will need to deliver our baby," Sakura said. "I can talk you through it." She gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and then shook her head.

"Or, I can use the Rinnegan and teleport us to another hideout. And if Karin isn't there, we'll check out another hideout. If something goes wrong…" Sasuke trailed off. He turned Sakura to face him, pressing his forehead against hers. She was warm — warmer than she should have been. "I cannot lose you. I just found you, Sakura. And we're not losing this baby."

"If you can just teleport, why have we been walking everywhere?" Sakura asked, her voice rising in anger. "It's dangerous! Do you even know how to control it? What if we get suck in a dimension that has no oxygen?"

Sasuke took a deep breath, trying to cool is own rising temper. His wife was in labor. She was in pain. She was doubting his abilities. "It takes a lot of chakra," he admitted. "But I do have some control over the technique. I had over a year to practice between when I left after the war and when we left together. I am extremely careful." He had made a lot of mistakes and he certainly hadn't mastered the skill. However, he could use it fairly easy to teleport both himself and Sakura to a place he was familiar. The true limiting factor was more chakra reserves. He could probably manage two teleportations without much risk, but it would really be better if he guessed accurately which hideout Karin went.

"Okay, I trust you, Sasuke." Sakura slid her hand into Sasuke's right, squeezed his fingers. "Let's go let your ex-girlfriend deliver our baby."

"She's not my ex-girlfriend," Sasuke grumbled. He closed his eyes to center himself and focus. Then he opened his eyes, Rinnegan activated. He pictured where he wanted to go, he held onto his wife tight against his chest, and then POP.

Orochimaru's lab was just as Sasuke remembered it. And it was dumb luck that he'd picked the right hideout. Karin stood staring at him and Sakura in shock. Whatever defenses were in place for the lab were completely circumvented by Sasuke's teleportation.

"Um, hi, Karin. We need your help," Sasuke said, feeling his neck burn. He had convinced Sakura that Karin would be happy to help in delivering their child, but now he was a little worried. It had been a couple of years since he'd last seen the redhead. He never returned her affections, but he'd never discouraged them either.

Karin's cinnamon eyes flickered to Sasuke only briefly before settling onto Sakura. "You have a fever," she said, coming towards the couple and laying the back of her hand against Sakura's brow. "How far along are you?"

"Thirty-seven or thirty-eight weeks," Sakura said, her voice hitched as another spasm hit her midsection. "I'm just glad they didn't come on my birthday."

"When was that?" Karin asked, gaging the lucidity of Sakura's mind.

"Three days ago," Sakura answered. She whimpered as another contraction hit.

"I don't think I have time to do an epidural," Karin apologized. Her eyes flashed with worry. "We need to deliver as soon as possible. How long have you had this fever."

"It just started," Sakura assured her. "Maybe three hours ago. I know, it can increase the risk of cerebral palsy. I've used my chakra to keep the blood flow around the baby at normal temperatures so it's not affected."

Karin nodded. "Smart. But that's also why the contractions are so strong. Quick lay down."

Sakura shook her head. "I'd rather stand or at least recline. I don't want to lay down. I think the baby will come easier that way."

"The baby is coming no matter how you're positioned, but we'll try it your way," Karin said. She took Sakura's arm and walked her towards a more sterile section of the lab. "Go get some towels, a pair of surgical scissors, and a couple of bowls of warm water, Sasuke." After Sasuke went to get the items Karin smiled awkwardly at Sakura. "I had imaged being present at the birth of Sasuke's child in a slightly different role."

"I told him this was a mistake," Sakura apologized. "I didn't want to hurt your feelings. I know you care about him. But he only trusted you with this."

Karin's eyes watered. "That means a lot to me." She reached for Sakura's hand, held it gently. "It was always you, but a girl had to have hope." They'd both been treated similarly by the Uchiha survivor over the years and yet both cared for him regardless. "I really am sorry about not being able to give you an epidural."

"It wouldn't work anyway," Sakura assured her. "Sasuke isn't the only one with a high tolerance to poisons and sedatives. The amount needed to numb me would be too dangerous for the baby."

Karin laughed. "You must be fun at a party."

"I'm an expensive date at the bar," Sakura said, smiling back.

Sasuke arrived, interrupting the chat, and they set up the supplies and their make-shift birthing area.

"Okay, Sasuke, here's what we're going to do," Karin ordered. "Sakura is going to sit on the floor and you're to sit behind her - her back will be pressed to your front, your knees will be on either side of her torso. You will be her support."

Sakura leaned against her husband, face drenched in sweat, while Karin took charge. She breathed in and out at the Uzumaki's instruction. She pushed when told. She squeezed Sauke's hands when the pain became too much, putting slight dents into his prosthetic hand and causing a stress fracture on his right hand. Thankfully, Karin managed to repair the broken hand shortly after Sakura heaved her last push.

"She's beautiful," Karin said. She gave Sasuke the scissors to cut the umbilical cord. "This is a weird request, but can I keep the cord? Not just for sentimental reasons, but I can store it. We can harvest stem cells if she gets sick with a disease or something."

"That will be fine, Karin," Sakura said. She sipped a cup of rose water to help with the inflammation of her mid-section. Her husband handed her their daughter. "Are you sure? Sarada?"

Karin raised an eyebrow at the name.

Sasuke nodded. "She is a beautiful Sarada Hana Uchiha." He looked defensively between the women. "It's the name my mother had picked out for a girl, but she had sons."

"I didn't say anything," Karin objected. "I mean, I like salads."

"It's based off the name Sara," Sasuke argued. "It's a foreign root to the name, okay?"

"And what does Sara mean?" Sakura asked quietly. It was a name she'd never heart, but then Sasuke had traveled a lot.

Sasuke kissed the crown of his daughter's dark head of hair. "It means princess."

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OoO

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For two weeks, Sasuke, Sakura, and Sarada stayed at the hideout with Karin. The baby's nails grew very quickly! All three adults had scratch marks from the precious newborn. It took Sakura a while to recover physically and she still had a few more weeks before she returned to normal. She was tempted to release her seal and be done with it. But Sasuke learned that using her rejuvenation power shortened her life, so he was adamantly against it — unless there was an emergency.

Winter was officially over and Spring was in the air. The trees were covered in bright green leaves, flowers bloomed in colorful blankets that stretched far and wide, the birds sang and the smaller mammals chittered. The deer and the bears explored the forests and the fish filled the rivers. It was a beautiful mid-April day when they started the last leg of their return trip.

It took them four additional weeks to reach Konoha by foot. Sakura wouldn't let Sasuke use his Rinnegan teleportation again — unless it was an emergency. So, they took turns carrying their daughter in the baby front carrier. Sarada did better with Sasuke carrying her. Whenever Sakura carried their daughter, the hungry baby just wanted to nurse. It was like she could smell the milk supply.

A pair of familiar faces waited for them at Konoha's borders- Naruto Uzumaki and Ino Yamanaka.

"You're back!" Naruto hugged Sasuke fiercely, careful to avoid the baby strapped to his chest. "Oh? Who's this?" He stepped back so that he could stare down at the sleeping infant who was now stirring after the loud noise.

Simultaneously, Ino hugged Sakura. "I'm a little mad about the wedding, but I'm really mad about the baby!" She pointed towards Sasuke. "How could you have a baby and not tell me? You tell me you're married and ask about the house! Not a notation of a baby."

"I didn't know I was expecting until we were on our mission," Sakura confessed, hugging her oldest friend tight. "And I wasn't far enough along when I sent the note to share the news. And limited space to communicate. How are you?"

Ino held her at arm's length. "I'm sleep deprived and also a mom. Sai and I had a boy back in December." She grinned big with a mischievous twinkle in her pale blue eyes. "I'm totally not mad. I've had my revenge - kept some big news to myself."

Sakura shook her head. "How did this happen? We had babies without each other knowing? We were supposed to be in the hospital, giving birth side-by-side."

"Don't forget the double wedding we didn't have," Ino pointed out with a laugh.

"I knew it. I knew you had some big dream wedding planned out with Ino," Sasuke teased.

"The important part of the wedding was the groom," Sakura confided to the trio. She stepped past Ino and hugged Naruto. "I missed you, Naruto!"

"I'm so glad you are both back! And I have been eating my vegetables," Naruto assured her. He laughed awkwardly.

"What?" Sasuke asked. He ran his fingers soothing down Sarada's back. All the excitement startled her from her deep slumber, but she was falling back to sleep. "What did you do?"

"Well, you see, the reason we are the ones greeting you—," Naruto started.

"Predominantly is because we're your best friends," Ino interjected.

"True, but, it's also because I wanted you to know that Hinata and I —," Naruto trailed off.

"Got married?" Sasuke guessed. "I cannot say we're too surprised. That's why we had Kakashi build our house near the Hyuuga sector."

"Actually, we're not married yet. I wanted you two at the wedding." Naruto smiled, his cerulean eyes flashing with happiness. "I'm a dad!"

"You had a child with the daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga outside of wedlock? And he let you live?" Sasuke asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I suppose she isn't the heiress."

Ino waved her hand back and forth. "I have a theory on that. Lord Hyuuga has been playing the long game. Hinata has had a crush on Naruto since before we were genin. I think it's the reason he demoted her from heiress. He wanted one of his daughters to marry Neji and Hinata and Neji were too close. Hence Hinabi became heiress. He was aware of Naruto's parentage and the Hyuugas need to let outside blood into the family occasionally or they start getting birth defects."

"Naruto's dad was the Fourth Hokage — Hiashi would have been aware of this," Sasuke agreed. "Frankly, Naruto, you are the perfect choice in partner for Hinata — outside of a second cousin. And technically, as an Uzumaki you are distant cousins with the Hyuugas anyway."

"The one bonus of being a civilian in a ninja village — I didn't have to worry about arranged marriages or bloodlines," Sakura confessed.

"In an alternate reality, I'd have found a way to you," Sasuke promised. "Then you would have had to dealt with Uchiha clan politics." He reached over and tapped her forehead in his one sign of public display of affection. Suddenly in front of their two closest friends, his confidence dropped in regards to showing his feelings.

Sakura rubbed her forehead absently, not too happy about the change in her husband's demeanor. "I would have been so mad if I'd stayed behind and you two were both starting families without me," Sakura said, hitting Naruto none-too-gently in the upper arm. "I thought you and Hinata were just barely dating. When was your baby born?"

"The day before your birthday, Sakura," Naruto told her, smiling from ear to ear. "Hinata is the one that guides our relationship. I'd still be barely holding hands if left to my own devices." He gave Sasuke a pointed look. "I assume you learned to do more than poke foreheads, since you two managed to conceive."

"Shut it," Sasuke snarled.

"Any who," Naruto turned back to Sakura. "My son's name is Boruto. When was your daughter born?"

"March 31st," Sasuke answered, drawing back his friend's attention. "These babies will one day be a formidable shinobi class."

"Shikamaru's son was born back in September and now Choji and his wife are expecting at the end of summer. Hopefully, our kids will make the seventeenth generation of Ino-Shika-Cho!" Ino pumped her fist excitedly. She shoved Naruto aside and hugged Sakura again. "I can't wait for you to see the house! Of course I did the interior design, though I let Sai help, he's just so creative!" She flashed Sasuke an annoyed look when he groaned at the mention of Sai. "Don't worry, Sasuke, the feeling is mutual."

They started walking towards the village, Naruto and Ino escorting the weary travelers towards their meeting with Hokage Kakashi. "How long will you be in the village?" Naruto asked. "You're not going to run off anytime soon?"

Sasuke took Sakura's hand and kissed the top of his daughter's sleeping head. "I'm not going anywhere."

Sakura didn't know how long her husband would stay. She wished that he would stay for the better part of the next two years. She knew his quest would lead him away from Konoha — away from his family. However, she hoped that their bonds would always lead him back to his wife and daughter.

It quickly became apparent that they were not heading towards the Hokage Tower. "Where are we heading?" Sasuke asked, voice laced with suspicion.

"Kakashi decided to meet with you elsewhere," Ino explained.

"We're heading to the house, aren't we?" Sakura asked, clasping her hands and bouncing with nervous excitement. Thirty minutes ago, all she wanted to do was sleep, but now her adrenaline was pumping and she felt like she'd just consumed four cups of coffee.

"That's right!" Naruto agreed. He grinned back at the Uchiha couple. "We're neighbors. We can do early morning walks together and have breakfast together! It will be so perfect!"

"At least Hinata is a good cook," Ino said. She wrapped her elbow across Naruto's neck and hugged him good-naturedly. "I can't do anything about this one, but I'm sure you will all manage to get along." She smiled back at Sakura. "Now, don't judge the landscape yet. Spring just started so everything is tiny. But in about three weeks your yard will look like a verifiable arboretum. You're welcome!"

"That's too much, Ino," Sakura said quietly.

"Hardly. It was fun! Besides," Ino looked back at Naruto and they exchanged knowing looks. "Remember that one year of parental leave Lady Tsunade established? Well, Kakashi takes it very seriously. We aren't allowed to do any shinobi-work. He won't even let Naruto do paperwork!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, a sheepish expression on his face. "Eh, I was probably messing it up anyway. Without Shikamaru, or—" he looked back at Sakura, "you, I'm really struggling with all those documents."

"Oh!" Sakura looked over at Sasuke, heart happy, knowing he'd be home for at least a year. "We can expand our book club!"

Sasuke groaned. "You know I don't like people, right?"

"We're not people," Naruto said. He shimmed between Sasuke and Sakura, one arm around each of their shoulders and pulled them into a make-shift hug. "We're family!"

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OoO

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It was beautiful. The house was a one-story, elegant abode with four bedrooms and three baths. There was a spacious kitchen, a large den, a dining room, and a home gym. Outside was adorable - flowering bushes aligned the sides of the house. A couple of trees were in the yard, but far enough away to not affect the foundation. The big tree in the front yard had a swing on it.

"And there's a hot tub on the back porch." Ino clasped her hands together, a girlish squeak coming from her mouth.

"There is no way we'll be able to afford a mortgage to a place like this," Sakura worried. She looked over at Sasuke. "Can we?"

Ino dismissed their concerns with a causal wave of her hand. "Shikamaru and Sai went through the records and tracked down just how much money Danzo stole from the Uchiha clan. Officially Sai, since Shikamaru was on parental leave. That and there was quite a bit of donations towards the project." She reached the front door and took hold of the nob. She looked over her shoulder at the Team Seven members. "Apparently, people are grateful when you stop an evil Rabbit goddess and prevent the complete annihilation of the world. Ready?"

Sakura and Sasuke exchanged looks and nodded. Naruto was eagerly bouncing on his toes. Ino opened the door.

"Welcome home!" Chorused the people inside. A large banner hung across the den's walls and their entire shinobi generation, friends and family waited inside. Sarada was snatched away pretty quickly by Tsunade while Sakura's parents embraced Sasuke into an awkward hug. Sakura laughed at his discomfort.

Kakashi gave Sakura a warm hug. "Welcome back, my favorite student." He gestured to the walls around them. "May this house become a home full of enough happy memories to drown out the bad ones." He stepped back and clasped his hand over Sasuke's shoulder. "This whole year off for parental leave is giving me way too much work and very few assistants."

"Hatake, you were too lazy anyway," Tsunade said, handing Sarada to Sakura. "Any complications with the pregnancy?"

Sakura shrugged. "She came a few weeks early, I started to get a fever. We made it to Karin Uzumaki and the actual delivery went fine."

"After I received your note, I returned here to help at the hospital. Your mother confronted me immediately to see if I knew if you were expecting," Tsunade admitted. She stepped to the side to allow Mebuki to hug Sakura and Sarada.

"You're not the only one that can be brave," Mebuki said, smiling wide. She hugged Sakura and her granddaughter again. "Your father and I decorated the nursery. Your teacher would never admit that you were pregnant, but she wouldn't deny it either." She started to lead Sakura down the hall.

"Sasuke?" Sakura called, holding out her hand.

Sasuke stuck his hands into his pocket, ignoring her outreached hand, but moved close so that their shoulders bumped. "Let's go see the nursery," he said quietly.

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TBC

A/N: Hello again, I'm on a roll! I've debated the direction for this story - for years - and am happy with my outline. The main reason I'm writing this story, is with Sasuke and Sakura being cannon, I'd like to write an explanation for why he's such an emotionally distant person while still loving his family and very small group of friends. There is more to it than his childhood trauma. My oldest son has been diagnosed with Autism - he's a bright, caring boy, but really struggles with his emotions and has extreme sensitivities. He's a good looking kid and very popular with his classmates, but he hardly acknowledges them and is somewhat standoffish. While at home, he's confident and very sweet. As my son has gotten older, my brain said — woah, maybe this is Sasuke's issue too? Anyways, enjoy, thanks for taking the time to read. Two more chapters to this story — then I will start a new story beginning after Sarada's first birthday that will be rated T.

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1/21/23