"Karin came by yesterday," he quietly mentioned, as his wife dressed the next morning.

"Oh damn, was she annoying?" she asked half-heartedly, her eyes opening slightly at the name but showing no real concern. The toothbrush in her mouth wasn't even removed. It's slow scraping continued as he replied from their bed, taking his time to find the words.

"Not really; she's really good with Sarada in fact bu-"

"-wait!" she stopped, startled. He did as he was told as she spat her mouth free and quickly cleaned her jaw. "You didn't let her hold Sarada or anything like that, right?" she asked, fear plain in her eyes.

"Well, she fed her an-" again, he was interrupted.

"-Sasuke! Do not let that woman put hands on our daughter; seriously, what were you thinking?!" she suddenly demanded. "She's a rogue ninja, a criminal, and you know what our child's genes are worth on the black market!"

"If she wanted to steal our kid, she definitely could have when I fell asleep, she didn't," he dared defend, growing irritated.

"YOU FELL ASLEEP?! With her here, are you insane!?"

"I know Karin much better than you, Sakura," he gritted out. "Besides, I fell asleep by accident because I was more tired than I'd been in my life because you insist we can't have any sort of caretaker for Sarada,"

"You said you were going to find a nursery near the tower for her!"

"Believe it or not, I haven't found the time to deal with that yet," he argued, standing to head towards the nursery, where Sarada was already starting to cry, no doubt woken up by the volume in the room next door.

"Don't walk away from me! Sasuke, this is serious," she demanded, stomping after him and only softening her glare slightly as he actually picked up their daughter. "Don't let Karin near her again,"

"So you have final authority on that? My assurance, and evidence, that she's not a threat just doesn't count for anything?" he asked, earning only a glare in response.

"Fine. Do whatever you want. I have to go to work," she spat, making Sarada start to squeal once again as she turned to go. Sasuke did his best to calm her, and it didn't take more than a few minutes. He even kept her from crying ten odd minutes later when the front door slammed.

It was at that moment that Sasuke decided not to tell her about their past romantic relationship.

Well, sexual relationship, romantic seemed like the wrong word.

Desperately wanting to hit something after the morning he had, he went walking about the village, near the tower and barracks that made it the safest district of the city. It was a popular spot for nurseries, and it didn't take him long to find one. Enrollment was an ordeal, but employing Karin's 'shove cash into their hands' strategy ended up getting things settled in less than a half hour.

He slept for a full workday, and when he woke up, he felt almost normal. It always amazed him how fast one could catch up on sleep, how you could miss dozens, if not hundreds, of hours over a month and catch up in just a couple nights of good rest. He still managed to wake up, pick up his daughter, and make it home before his wife.

She was still tense; the first thing she asked was if Karin came by, and the second was if he was lying to her when he answered honestly. They didn't speak for the rest of the night. She was gone when he woke up, and when Karin came an hour after that, he didn't even mention his wife didn't want her around.

As if it wasn't assumed.

Perhaps worst of all, he agreed to the meetup she proposed with his old team. Though she had already sent out the letters, so it may have been moot. At least she didn't make any more sexual advances, didn't offer herself up on a platter to him again; that was a temptation he certainly didn't need on that particular day.

Mostly, they focused on Sarada, playing with her, keeping her happy. When they did talk, it was mostly about childcare, the adjustment to fatherhood, and where her own knowledge on the subject had come from. Being the warden to an insane scientist, as it turns out. Even after everything, it brought Sasuke some comfort that he had killed that madman; he'd ended a lot of human suffering with that action, maybe even enough to cancel out the evil he did.

Karin certainly thought so, especially considering the man's aspirations of immortality.

"I thought I was going to have to serve that sadistic freak for the rest of my life, however long that would be," she admitted with a dazed laugh. "There's a reason I was grateful to you, you know?

"Well, I think I more than fucked you over by trying to have you killed after… everything we had been through,"

"Yeah, all those days we fought together, all those nights where you took all your frustration and anger and anxiety and pounded it all out on me~"

"Karin, don't talk about that," he asked plainly, not wanting to push her after all the help she'd offered him thus far. Even just that day, her constant entertainment gave him a chance to rest, if not actually sleep. Sarada hadn't grown tired of the 'terrified' red-haired lady cowering from her yet.

"What, worried your daughter's some kind of super genius who will remember? Whatever," she agreed with a wave of her hand, turning her gaze from his own pleading eyes. "Find a daycare for her yet?"

"Yeah, just yesterday, had to pay a premium but-"

"-but who cares?" she finished for him. "What are you going to do with all the new free time?" she asked casually.

"Sleep until that's fixed, then try to get back on my old training regiment,"

"Well, if you want a sparring partner until Jugo or Suigetsu show up, I'm not busy," she offered.

"What do you occupy yourself with here in the village when you're not here?" he dared ask, not assured by the grin sprouting on her face at the question. There was a bit of suspicion, but for the most part, he asked because he was genuinely interested in her offer. Naruto never had time to train anymore, nor Sakura, and it wasn't as if he had many friends in the village besides them, less that could actually offer him any challenge.

"I might have pocketed the leftover cash you gave me, got a nice hotel, did some sightseeing, thought about my next move," she vaguely answered. He didn't even acknowledge the money she stole. Stole was a bit harsh anyway, considering he had handed it to her and never asked for his change.

"Just on vacation, then?"

"Maybe, I don't want to travel too far from the cutest little girl in the world though~" she trailed off, changing the subject as the baby in question began to fuss on the floor. Picking her up solved that problem, and working together, she didn't cause any real trouble for the rest of the day.

Sasuke even grabbed a nap both times she went down for hers, life seemed good.

For the first time in a long time, life seemed good.

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