The sun was shining through the glossy leaves on the Hashirama trees and the bulbed flowers of the small fruit orchard the village had planted to commemorate the alliance between Suna and Konoha barely inside the village gates. Shisui closed his eyes, deeply inhaling the sweet scents of the sakura blossoms, the freshly cut grass, and the barely dried paint on the check-in desk as he signed the paperwork in front of him. Two weeks away from home was far too long. Ten years ago he would have considered it a short mission, standard for his job.

Now, Maiya had blessed him with four children and they needed him present in their lives more than he needed to be at work. Someone else could take the load, someone else could learn the things he knew and do his job. No one else could replace him as his kids' father.

The winding road to the Uchiha compound meandered through Konoha. Shisui let the busy sounds of the woodwork and repairs serenade him, welcoming him home. They beckoned him to stay as arduously as the fabric banner clinging to the lentil of the Uchiha gates. Adjusting the pack on his back, he walked through the uneven stones that marked the way to his grandfather's home, newly restored to its former glory and unscathed from the recent war.

A deep red porch wrapped around the entirety of the traditional building stuck on dark brown posts that had held with time through the last half century. The sprawling flowerbeds his grandmother had been so proud of were finally restored, a myriad of tulips opened in the spring sun, save for the corner where the family dog decided to bury a favored toy. Why Chika, their terrier mutt chose to do that, he would never know. She barked at him from the porch, a short yip that seemed to say hurry up inside.

With soft cricket creaks up the sounding stairs, he made sure to make enough noise that the women inside wouldn't be startled.

"I'm home," he quietly announced, placing his shoes in the shoe rack near the door.

Maiya's soft footsteps slid along the smooth hardwood floors like the melody of a song he ached to remember. He liked hearing the swish of her skirt against her legs, perhaps it was a weird thing to think, but he did. After everything they had been through, he liked to hear the small sign of life when she was near. He liked hearing the breath on her lips when she kissed the side of his neck.

She smiled at him in the dimly lit room and his heart stopped at the sight of her.

"Welcome home," she whispered.

Time had been kind to her, she had only grown more beautiful with it. Shisui stood there and watched the breeze from an open window ruffle the loose strands of chestnut hair framing her face. She frowned at him, then began to move his shirt around, silently checking for any sign of injury.

"Are you okay? Any new holes?"

He gently plucked her hand from his chest and kissed the inside of her wrist. "I love you."

"What is wrong?" Maiya forcefully tried to turn his body to look at his back but was stuck in his arms. "Shisui, please, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just love you." He watched as the tension lines in her face slowly melted away.

"I love you too. Missed you."

The feel of her arms around him carried with her a sweet amnesia of the discomfort from the mission and the travel. He buried his nose into the side of her neck, inhaling all the scents that made her her—the baby vomit, the rose scent she still used years later, and hand sanitizer. He loved all of it, the sweet, the mundane.

Maiya hummed beneath him, accepting his affection, exposing her neck to him. Just as he began to kiss the side of her neck below her collar, the baby cried out from the back room.

She smiled at him with a quick kiss to the lips. "You should go shower."

"Nice way of telling me I stink."

He laughed when she dramatically held her nose and walked down the hallway.

Maiya could feel Shisui staring at her from across the bedroom, even as he pretended to read a mission report. She quietly placed the hairbrush back on the vanity then turned around to raise an eyebrow at him. The silk of her nightgown shimmered in the light of his reading lamp as she crawled into bed beside him.

"Shisui." She kissed the side of his shoulder and waited for him to put the scroll down. "Can you talk about it? Did something happen on your mission?"

He had always had secrets from his job that he couldn't talk about. She knew that better than anyone else and respected it. Though, she wished he would share more with her than he did.

"Actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about."

Maiya closed her eyes for a moment and reveled in the warmth of him beside her. The calluses on his fingers from decades of training rasped against the soft skin of her hand, she wouldn't trade the feeling for anything else. She liked to feel the small shifts of the muscles in his hand, the contraction at the base of his thumb, the flex of each finger as it fought against the tightened and hardened skin above.

She liked his hands. She liked watching the way he moved them whether he was opening a pickle jar or showing their children the proper way to tie a fishing lure. The faint freckles on his skin from long days in the sun grew darker with each passing summer and faded in the wintertime. He held her hand when they made love, refusing to let go of their interlocked fingers with every stroke.

"What is it you wanted to talk about?"

"I was thinking about retiring from active shinobi duty and transitioning to reserve."

Relief she didn't know she needed flooded her as though an anvil had been removed from her chest. Every time he walked out their front door with his mission pack she worried he wouldn't return, that his name would be just one more added to an unfeeling stone in the cemetery. Shinobi never planned to be long for the world.

She hadn't realized she had been quiet until he ran his thumb against the bottom of her chin and cupped her cheek. Without sparing another thought, she turned over onto his lap and straddled him. She enjoyed the feel of his hands against the silk nightgown, grasping and clutching her ass, pulling her closer to him. Enthusiastic kisses were met with equal fervor while she tried to yank his shirt over his head.

"I take it you agree?"

Grinding down on his erect cock, she nodded. Her lips traced the side of his freshly shaved jaw down to his pulse. The soft bergamot of his soap and aftershave lingered on his skin. Feeling daring, she bit down gently on his pec. It was an invitation, a call to a battle she knew she would win. Two weeks in the field always made him insatiable, she loved that.

The muscles in his broad shoulders flexed beneath her hands, the only warning sign before he flipped them over. Maiya kissed him again, savoring him, taking her time against his lips then tongue. She let his hands roam against the soft silk, letting him inch it up in a pretend attempt to be subtle.

"I love you," she whispered.

He kissed her again, returning the sentiment with physical displays of the promise. The baby monitor was silent with the rest of the darkened house. Peace, a hard-won peace, reigned over them.

Thank you for reading! It has been one year since I began writing this fic and wanted to write a little flash fic one-shot. If you have time, please leave a comment. :)