"I'm ho-ome!" Sakura slammed the door shut with her foot, then deposited the plastic bags with the take-out on the side table to shrug out of her jacket and put on some slippers.

"Ohhhh, mommy is finally back from work," she heard Kakashi coo in the living room, "and she brought us yummy food for lunch. Aren't we lucky? I'll continue reading to you later, okay?"

Smiling in anticipation, Sakura walked in, finding her two men slouching on the couch, one happily pedalling on the other's belly.

Kakashi lowered the book he was holding and smiled at her.

Huh?!

"Are you reading him an Icha Icha book?!" Sakura almost dropped the food in shocked outrage.

Kakashi blinked with an air of complete innocence and turned the book around to look at its colorful cover. "Hmmmm yes, why not? It's very educational."

"Kakashi, it's smut. Haru is only four months old!" she rushed to the couch to rescue her son. Gurgling happily, Haru grabbed a lock of her hair and pulled at it. Hard. Resolutely, she removed the hair from his little fist and planted a wet kiss on his cheek. He smelled so nice. Like everything wholesome.

"Never too early to learn the important stuff," Kakashi said and sat up. "How was your day?"

"Exhausting," she sighed and flopped down next to him, her son in her arms. There was so much to do at the hospital, she sometimes thought she would simply drop dead from stress. People from far away came to Konoha to be treated - the hospital had become the biggest source of income for the village. She was very proud to be of so much help to the Hokage, who had his hands more than full with managing the various alliances they had to ensure the peace of the lands.

"What can we do, you're just too popular," he smiled proudly and leaned over to kiss her. Mhhhh, his lips were so soft and tender. Her tension melted away under his caress and she kissed him back with fervor.

"Stop," he sounded a little breathless as he pulled away. "Haru is watching."

Which was true. Their son studied their faces with grave intensity and as if he were expecting something even more exciting to happen soon.

"I told you you shouldn't have read him Icha Icha books!" Sakura squealed, horrified.

"Good boy, so tiny and already so smart," Kakashi smiled and patted his son's almost completely hairless head with great affection.

Haru giggled and extended his pudgy arms in Kakashi's direction.

"Yes, come to daddy," Kakashi cooed and took him from Sakura's arms, bouncing him up and down until their son squealed in pleasure.

"And your day?" Sakura said, smiling fondly at the two, "how has it been so far?"

"We had to change nappies three times," he recounted, "and we drank two big bottles of mommy milk. Hardly any crying. Pakkun and Bull visited. When Haru pulled Pakkun's ears, he endured it graciously."

"Sounds like fun," she chuckled.

"But I missed you," Kakashi dropped his voice low as their eyes locked. "If only you didn't have to work on Sundays."

"Missed missed me?" she asked slowly.

"Oh yes," he said, sounding breathless. "Missed missed missed you."

Not too long ago, Kakashi had vowed he would make love to her at least once a day. He wasn't able to keep that promise, they both were too damn busy with life, their jobs and a baby, but he tried valiantly and with great eagerness to make up for it whenever they had a chance. With her strange shifts and his long hours, it had been a while.

No wonder she felt a sweet little ache in her belly, a fluttering of need and anticipation awakened by his heated gaze.

"Aren't you hungry?" she asked, her heart beating in her throat.

"Very," Kakashi licked his lips. "Food can wait."

She looked at Haru - and sighed in regret. Finding a babysitter just so they could make love seemed a little excessive. But she was beginning to consider it in earnest.

"I'll put him to sleep," Kakashi declared.

"Impossible! He never sleeps at this time of the day."

Kakashi got up with a wink and disappeared into the nursery, precariously balancing his son on his right arm. For early Shinobi training. Haru loved it.

Five minutes later, Kakashi was back.

"He's asleep."

"You're kidding!"

"Nope," he said, kneeling down in front of her, "fast asleep."

The question was for how long.

"Bedroom?" he asked, knowing her sensitivities about getting undressed when it was too light.

"Mhm," she said and squealed when he lifted her up the very next second and hurriedly carried her into the darkened, cool room.

Clothes came off very swiftly. Not much foreplay - he was a little desperate. It didn't matter, she was desperate too, and just seeing the contours of that sculpted body in the halflight turned her into a willing, wet participant.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, easing into her as gently as possible.

Sakura shook her head. The soreness from the birth was definitely gone. Now if she would only get her body back into shape…

"I want more babies," Kakashi panted, setting a slow but steady pace, showering her face and neck with kisses.

"Way too early, darling," Sakura moaned. Pregnancy was part wonderful, part very horrific and she needed a little more time to forget the bad parts.

"You're so beautiful. And you know I want a girl next."

"Yeah, why don't you carry it to terms?"

"Oh, can I?"

"No!" Sakura had to laugh and then they stopped talking for a while, concentrating on each other's pleasure, reaching the peak together as quietly as possible because cutting parent-time short by waking a sleeping baby was very unwise.

Afterwards, Kakashi drew lazy patterns on her belly with his index finger.

"I want to get back in shape…," she began, feeling self-conscious about the slight chubbiness that remained.

"Nonsense! I forbid it. You're beautiful. The belly that carried my son is beautiful. Your legs that carried your belly with our child inside are beautiful and your breasts…," he dropped his voice low and gently touched one of her nipples, "they're bigger."

"I want to stop nursing soon," she said, shuddering in pleasure.

"Okay," he said, "I like them when they're smaller too."

"It'll make things easier," she continued. "And we should start him on pureed food soon."

"I'm looking forward to it," Kakashi said. "I will teach him all the tricks with a spoon he needs to know."

"Don't you dare," Sakura laughed.

"I love you," Kakashi blurted out, pressing his lips to her forehead.

Where had that come from? She snuggled closer to his solid, comforting warmth. "I know that."

"You should hear it at least once a day," he kissed her hair, then her neck. "You know, when I thought I was dying…"

"Shush," she murmured. "Nobody is dying."

"... I regretted that I hadn't told you enough times. And no, I don't plan to die soon, quite the opposite."

"Good," she murmured. Tying him down like Kaeru had suggested wasn't necessary. There was no more danger. For the moment.

"I want to retire though."

"Huh?" Sakura boxed him gently in the ribs. "You're not even fourty!"

"Isn't that old enough to retire? I feel like seventy most days."

She took a glance at her husband's toned, muscular body. As if.

"You liar. You're as lazy as I always thought you were. You just managed to pretend otherwise for a while!"

"Very lazy," he agreed happily. "But I'll cook and clean for you. And watch our children. All ten of them."

Sakura laughed and boxed him again. He wasn't lazy at all, of course. He took his job as Hokage very, very seriously. Too seriously sometimes for her taste: Long hours. Little sleep. But he had recently started to instruct Naruto on how to take care of some of the paperwork. That was going well most days. It'll only take another four years to make him fit for taking over, Kakashi had joked recently.

Naruto had also organized a computer. Rather than really helping with their tasks though, it seemed it took them endless hours to debate how to use it properly.

"Micha wrote another letter," she told Kakashi, suddenly remembering her joy earlier this morning.

"Is he coming back anytime soon?" Kakashi yawned and stretched.

"Not quite yet," Sakura sighed. "But he sounds hopeful. He says he has a lot of new things to share with me. Imagine what I can do at the hospital with him by my side!"

"More work?" Kakashi grumbled. "Damn."

"You will just have to build a third hospital," she said, "so we have room for all the people who want to come here."

"And I will have to clone you. I want three Sakuras. One can live in my lap."

"Horrid man!"

Cloning jokes were frequent between them and it was good that he could laugh about it by now. Sasuke had shielded him with his Susanoo in that cave, but only him. What had happened to Kabuto and the two Rins… well, it wasn't likely anyone could have survived the explosion and the subsequent collapse of the cave. Sakura had let him grieve without interference. To her relief, the mourning had been very brief. He had not forgiven them for hurting her. And the rest of the Noharas… they had disappeared without a trace. Including Mrs. Nohara.

Had everyone found peace?

Well, no. It would take much more time to heal all the old wounds and to understand and avoid all the reasons they existed in the first place. But no life was perfect... Sasuke was doing okay most days, zealously overseeing the repopulation of the Uchiha compound with mostly non-Uchihas, occasionally having one of his temper tantrums, more often eagerly teaching Sarada all the things he thought an Uchiha needed to know. Karin visited occasionally. Last Sakura had talked to her, she was thinking about rebuilding Uzushiogakure.

"Let's clone something else," Kakashi murmured and began kissing her in earnest. Definitely not old and ready to retire.

The doorbell rang and they jerked apart.

"Shit, it's Sarada," Kakashi half stumbled, half fell out of bed, frantically searching for his shirt and his trousers. Sakura laughed at his behavior - he had very firm ideas about being the best kind of role model for Sasuke's daughter - but sat up as well. They needed to get dressed anyway. And they needed to eat… she was famished.

Haru began crying in the adjacent room.

"I'll get him," she murmured while Kakashi rushed towards the door to open it.

Sarada narrowed her eyes at Kakashi.

"Uncle Kakashi, were you taking a nap on a Sunday afternoon?" she asked with a hint of displeasure.

"N… no?" he stammered, even turning a little red as he tried to pat down his hair. Adorable.

"Ah," Sarada nodded knowingly. "Is Auntie Sakura here?"

Sakura suddenly had this image of Kakashi reading Icha Icha books to Sarada too but then again, it wasn't like they were particularly secret about their affections, weren't they.

"Hi!" she smiled, stepping into the living room with Haru, who was sleepily sucking his thumb and slobbering all over himself.

"Why is there unused food here?" Sarada sniffed at the plastic bags on the table.

"We… we meant to eat it," Kakashi explained with a frown, "but then…"

"Say no more," Sarada interrupted gravely. "Did you forget I'm scheduled to stay with you for a few days, Uncle Kakashi? My dad has to leave town for a bit."

"Of course I didn't forget," Kakashi murmured, an obvious lie. "I'm the one who is sending him away after all."

"Can I take Haru for a walk?" Sarada asked. "The weather is lovely. And you two look a little tired."

"Oh… yes! Of course!" Kakashi and Sakura exclaimed at the same time, their eyes finding each other. Haru was quickly dressed for his outing and once the door had closed behind Sakura and the baby, both sank into the couch with a huge sigh.

"We look a little tired, huh?" Kakashi chuckled.

"It's no lie," Sakura laughed. "I feel like…"

"Sleep," Kakashi said, pulling her head onto his shoulder. "Sleep, I'll watch over you."

"Aren't you hungry?" she murmured.

"Mhm," he said, "wait…"

He got up and picked up the bag.

"I'll feed you."

"Ha, are you missing Haru already?" she smiled.

"Of course," he whispered, "but I want to care for you too. Say 'ah'!"

They fed each other with noodles for a bit, then kissed and touched until the sleepiness got too strong.

It was a perfect little moment. They had a bit more time for each other before the whirlwind of their busy lives caught up with them again. Kakashi was the first to fall asleep, his head on her shoulder, his chest rising and falling with every deep breath he took.

Sakura watched his unmasked face and felt a rush of such tenderness, she almost woke him to tell him how very much she loved him.

But there would be time for that later. There were no more threats.

Did they understand all the details of what had transpired a year ago? No. And as Kakashi had told her, they probably never would.

But that didn't matter too much. They would be fine.

As long as they got to walk together on the roads of life. To the very end - and beyond.

THE END

Thanks for reading! ^_^