Epilogue: The Obedient Wife?

-6 Months Later-

Lord Minato had agreed to give the blushing bride away. His infuriating, cunning grin had nearly made Sakura want to deck him in his very smug face. She almost wondered sometimes, if he hadn't planned the whole thing between the two of them all along. Well she didn't think he'd expected Orochimaru's insanity, but nobody had. Naruto hadn't been too keen on Sakura's choice in a husband, but if it kept her with them, he'd accept it.

That had been three months ago. Now, Lord Itachi's very outspoken and brash wife was often spotted brazenly striding down the street in a pair of loose plain black pants, and top without a care in the world to the public eye. No one had seen her in a dress the day after her wedding unless she was attending an event, or ball put out by one of the four High Lord families. At first they'd thought her an odd eccentric. A few had even approached her to either berate her or set her down a notch or two. In the end they had all come out shaking after having felt her wickedly sharp tongue. They learned quickly to keep their distance.

Several noble women huddled together and watched as the strange pink haired woman took a wild swing at her visibly irritated husband. All eyes watching widened when Lord Itachi just moved aside, almost as if he were used to such heathenish antics from her, and instead of berating her like he probably should as a noble in position, he just kissed her senseless instead. And to top it all off, his mother, Lady Mikoto just laughed before fanning herself and turning away.

Sakura pulled away from her husband, her feathers ruffled by his lofty attitude. She hissed in an angry whisper, "I will visit Ino, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it..."

"I believe you do have the attention of the room now my lady," his lip twitched in amusement of her angry display, "And you will not... I do not like you being out at night alone..."

"Kami! I've roamed the streets for years," Sakura wrapped her hands around his neck as they danced to the music, "That's quite the ridiculous statement coming from you."

"The kids don't like it either," he frowned down at his irate wife, "they like you home with them..."

She visibly wilted at that statement. Her lips thinned, "Fine you win this time sheriff."

He growled before burying his nose in her neck, "When will you stop calling me that? I haven't been in charge of the city guard since we've married."

"You'll always be the sheriff in my eyes," Her eyes twinkled in amusement. After the issues of covering up the details of the explosion and corpse of Lord Orochimaru, he had gone after the Akatsuki members who had helped Orochimaru achieve what he had. Sakura had been shocked by how ruthless he could be when he put his mind to it. He had killed the strange members of the mercenary, who looked like they had probably been apart of Orochimaru's strange expirements. The pagan's below the city had withdrawn deeper into their caverns after the demise of the insane lord, and hadn't bothered the populace sense. There wasn't a soul that had wanted to go down after them though, and so they remained untouched by most of the affair.

Itachi just nipped at her neck as he moved her through the steps. Those watching the interaction between the two just shook their heads in disbelief.

The pair left the event earlier and in amiable silence went back to the manor. It was amazing Sakura mused, after her marriage to the stoic Uchiha, she had moved into the very home, she'd broken into nearly a year ago and stolen the ruby from. Itachi had decided that he would tell his mother about the whole ordeal and surprisingly she hadn't been as upset about it as Sakura thought she would be. It was probably because Itachi explained that Sakura had saved her second son's life. They never brought it up to Fugaku because they all knew he would be completely unreasonable about the whole thing. Ignorance was bliss, they decided.

At first Lord Fugaku had been affronted by Sakura's brazen, and very outgoing nature. The Uchiha clan members had quickly given up on her. They found her completely unreasonable in her unrelenting behavior. Sasuke, after having his brush with death, and having been freed from his ties with the madman that had nearly destroyed Konoha with his help continued to make amends with his eldest brother. He was amazed that Itachi cared about him to the extent that he did. Granted, he'd been ignorant about Orochimaru's doings, and wouldn't have funded the man had he truly known what he'd been up to. He hadn't even known till months later that Orochimaru was behind the four lordling's kidnappings. It still didn't make it right. He had nearly gotten his brother killed in his attempt to rise to power.

He watched with amused eyes as the pair stepped into the torch lit interior of the house. They were immediately assaulted by two children, with very sticky fingers, as they'd just had their toast and jam.

Sakura glared at Sasuke, "What have I told you about giving them sugar so late?"

"I never thought you'd get home," the boy, the smaller of the pair looked up at Sakura with big brown eyes.

"You know as well as I that Lord Itachi must go show off at these things Hajime..." she bent down and wrapped her arms around the kids who excitedly hugged her back. Her sharp green eyes flit to the little girl, "I see you've already gotten the clothing High Lord Uchiha got you messy... Aika... Come on let's get you cleaned up before he comes home and has a coronary..." she muttered, "I told that old man that giving a child a white dress was a stupid idea..."

Itachi stepped next to his elder brother, his lips twisting at their antics.

"I would have never thought her to be the maternal type," Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets, eyeing his brother thoughtfully.

"Mother loves having the children in the house," Itachi grunted in response, watching his spouse lead them away, "I don't think the maternal is quite the word for it. Mother wasn't pleased when Aika tried to filch the bracelet off her wrist the other day... Of course you and I both know where she learned that behavior from..."

Sasuke's lips quivered with amusement, "Sakura ... "

"Informed me that it was perfectly reasonable to teach the children street survival skills," his lips thinned into an irritated line at the memory, "And to keep my useless noble nose out of it."

"She'll bring in more like them won't she?" Sasuke sighed, remembering when Sakura had brought in the orphaned siblings in dirty tattered clothes. Apparently she'd found them eating out of the trash cans in one of the backalleys. What she was doing in such a place, he really didn't want to know. He did recall that Itachi hadn't been too happy at first, and Sasuke suspected it was due more to her roaming the bad part of town then the fact she'd brought children home. The woman had insisted that the children were staying and that was that. Of course when Mikoto had walked in on the scene and had gotten a good look at the pair of them, with their huge brown eyes, and dirty faces, Sakura had gained an immediate ally in the endeavor. Five minutes after that occured, his mother had become an honorary grandmother. Fugaku had of course been rendered speechless, but he too had gotten attached to the children quickly.

"She swears that if she sees another child in need that she will," Lord Itachi replied and then, "I find I don't mind. It keeps her busy... and out of trouble. For the most part..."

Sasuke let out a snort, "Don't try to act tough. You're just attached to them as mother and father."

"So are you," he deadpanned.

Sasuke bristled, "That's not the point."

"Itachi get your ass in here dammit!" a sudden loud yell came from down the hall. The servants had been startled by Sakura's outlandish behavior at first, but now, none of them even bothered to look up, "The kids want you to read them a story..."

"You're being summoned," Sasuke grinned deviously at his now bristling brother, "Although I don't know why they even like listening to your boring monotone voice. Although, I imagine it's probably a very good sleeping aid.

"Damn woman," Itachi muttered ignoring his brother's jab. He still went despite her ill manners, mentally making a note to make her pay for her lack of disrespect later. He momentarily forgot about it when he found himself under the regard of three pairs of eyes. Sakura sat down next to him and handed him the chosen book for the night. He turned it over and silently read the title, "The Do's and Don'ts of Blackmarket Trade" Itachi wasn't the type to gape at anything, but he was sorely tempted at the woman's audacity of handing him such a book to read to children. Did they actually have this in the Uchiha house library? And who in the hell wrote such a book anyways. He flipped it over, looking for the author's name, but couldn't find it.

"I'm not reading this," he glared at his wife.

Sakura bent over and read the title, and blushed prettily, "Oh I'm sorry. Wrong book." She reached over and grabbed the book with fairytale styled art on the front off the nightstand, "This is the book they want you to read to them." She moved to grab the book from his hand, but he held it in a firm grip with a glare that dared her to take it from him. She just sniffed daintily, and folded her arms.

Sakura listened as her husband read the children a story. She could tell he wasn't too pleased with the chore. Especially when the children begged him to reread certain sappy passages. He sent her a look that spoke volumes. She would have to make it up to him later. The thought sent a blush to her cheeks, and she scooted closer to him, leaning her head on his shoulders. Her life had taken a turn that she never expected, but she didn't regret it and knew she never would.

Aika dropped a sudden bomb that had Sakura looking away in feigned innocence, "Mom promised that we're going to visit our other grandma. She says we need training." Sakura hadn't liked being called such a thing at first. She felt too young, and undeserving of the endearment. But the children insisted, and she didn't have the heart to tell them no.

Itachi sent Sakura a look that could kill. She only smiled in response. She'd let him think what he wanted.

Hajime added, his brown bangs bouncing as he reprimanded his sister, "You weren't supposed to say anything... remember that was part of our training..."

Sakura sighed when she saw the muscle jump in cheek, and she knew that she now had alot of explaining to do.

"Alright, time to sleep. We'll finish the story tomorrow," Sakura rose to tuck them in.

Their heads bobbed obediently and the couple was followed by soft 'good nights.'

Sakura could tell that Itachi was close to bursting at the seems. Once inside their room, he said in a low voice, "You have two seconds to explain yourself..."

She crossed her arms across her chest, "Thinking the worst I see..." and she turned, "Why am I not surprised?"

"Sakura," he said her name slowly, enunciating each syllable in dangerously angry voice.

"Eh fine!" she threw up her hands, "It was supposed to be a surprise. I've been wanting to visit Tsunade for awhile now. I want you to meet her. She's the closest thing to a mother that I have," she chewed on her lower lip nervously, "I don't even want to know what conclusion your mind has jumped to but... by training I just meant that I was going to teach them how to climb trees properly."

She peeked up through her bangs to find Itachi staring down at her incredously, "You are going to what?"

"Climb trees... that's a normal childhood thing you know. I want them to have... as normal of a childhood as I can give them. They've already been through so much and..." Sakura began to stammer, not knowing what else to say to him. When his eyes began to gleam with visible signs of amusement, she bristled and then added to irritate him, "Besides... it's not Tsunade's duty to teach them the thieve's trade. That actually falls on me and... so I will of course teach them what I know..."

Itachi knew the game she was playing, she'd done it to rile him so many times. And so in response he just bent his head down, capturing her lips with his. Sakura melted the moment his teeth nibbled on her lower lip, and wrapped her arms around his neck kissing him back.

They broke apart startled when they heard Sasuke's angry shout coming from down the hall, "Come back here you brats! You're supposed to be in bed... That watch is gold!" A pair of mischievous childish giggles followed that demand, "Hey! No! Ouch! Dammit come back here!"

Itachi's eyebrows shot up as he looked down at his smirking spouse.

"And you thought I was joking..."

-

A/N: And thus ends this tale. Oh I know people were OOC here. I just wanted it to be fun, with a dash of seriousness. I sat and tried to imagine life after and well, I knew it would be far from perfect. But at least it would never be boring.