"MOM!"

Sakura paused, stilling her pen. She was in the midst of hospital reports, and Sarada knew better than to interrupt her. Which meant this was important. She sighed, pushed her chair back from her desk, and went to open the door to her office-away-from-the-office. Her daughter was standing in the hall with her arms crossed and the tiniest thin lipped mouth Sakura had seen in some time.

"Yes, Sarada?"

"Mom. Dad is being insufferable. Please speak to him." Sakura was often pleasantly surprised by how much Sarada took after her, but every now and again, that streak of stubborn Uchiha came out. And since Sarada had gotten a little older, more often than not it was when she had interactions with her father. Sakura bit back a smile. It was kind of fun to watch Sasuke navigate the waters of raising a teen girl, since he had little-to-no experience in actually dealing with them thanks to his self-imposed exile during his own formative years. She leaned against the doorframe, readying herself to hold back un-authoritarian-like-giggles.

"What did he do?" Sarada glanced to the side before responding.

"I just asked if I could go to the fireworks festival with some friends and he said no!"

"That sounds like you're leaving some facts out." Her daughter rolled her eyes.

"Fine, I asked if I could go with Boruto." Ah, there it was. "It's not a big deal! Just as friends! I mean, he's so dumb and impulsive and annoying, but he is kind of fun. And, come on, I'm already a genin. It's not like we're not already doing missions together!" Through this mini-tirade, Sakura just bit the inside of her cheek, and nodded sympathetically. Sasuke would be in a mood. This was going to be hilarious.

"Okay, okay, I'll talk to him. You're right, you're old enough to go to the fireworks with a boy- "

"A FRIEND. TO THE FIREWORKS WITH A FRIEND." Just like her father.

"With a friend. Who is a boy." She had to pull back on the smile, but this was so cute.

"Mom." Sakura quirked an eyebrow.

"Do you want me to talk to him or not?" Sarada looked like she was in physical pain.

"… Yes, please."

"Okay, then. You are old enough to go to the fireworks with your friend without adult supervision. I'll talk to your dad about it." Her daughter turned pink and let out a small smile.

"Thanks, mom, you're the best." Sarada punctuated her gratitude with a hug, and Sakura smiled and held her close.

"I remember what it was like. Sort of." Sort of, being the operative phrase. She headed towards their back door as Sasuke was undoubtedly taking his frustrations out on some poor tree behind their home. She walked slowly, thinking of their own journey.

She'd forgiven him so quickly, after that final battle. He and Naruto had been lying in a pool of their comingling blood and she'd just been so exhausted. And afterward. The elation that he'd been pardoned, the hope that their team would be together again. It felt so easy to just be okay. Too easy. He'd given her back thank you and promised to return. He'd as much as said that she was exempt from the badness of his past.

It was in that interim time, when he'd gone to find himself and redemption, that she'd gotten angry. And he'd missed it.

He'd send her a note once every few months, which was strange at first. Actual communication from Uchiha Sasuke? The world really had turned on itself. But there was never any way for her to write back. It was, as usual, a one way street. She wrote countless letters, full of anger and frustration, and the errant tear drop. And when he came back, she tied them up with string, put them in a box, and dropped them off at his apartment.

He read them all. That was their new beginning.

She opened the door to their yard and stepped out onto the wooden beams making up their patio and took a seat on the top step. As suspected, Sasuke was in the throes of taijutsu practice, punching the hell out of a poor, innocent tree.

"Sasuke-kun!" He delivered one last kick to what was left of the trunk before turning and walking towards her, and, honest-to-God, glistening with sweat. It still made her a little hysterical how good looking he was. It was as if he wasn't real, because how could a life have so much ugliness in it and still produce this person?

He wiped his brow with his sleeve as he got closer.

"Sakura, I –" She interrupted him by grabbing his hand pulling him down next to her. He settled before smiling at her. "Hello."

She smiled back.

"Hello."

Sixteen years since he'd poked her on the forehead, and sometimes she'd still forget that Sasuke could be this way. Openly caring. Honest.

They turned back to look out at the world and she put her head on his shoulder.

"So, Sarada wants to go to the festival." She felt his entire body tense under her. "Sasuke." He relaxed. Sort of.

"No."

"Sasuke, you know he's a good boy." She kept her head on his shoulder, and took his good hand in hers, starting to heal the small cuts on his knuckles and massaging his palm.

"Sakura, he's an idiot's idiot."

"You know that's not true."

He sighed.

"I know. Even though all boys are, by definition, idiots."

"You might be right on that one if I'm remembering our genin class correctly."

"Sakura…"

"We didn't get this chance, Sasu-chan." She felt him smile against her hair. "Let's let her have it, no?"

He pulled his hand away from her and wrapped it around her, bringing her in flush against his side.

"I know you're right, and that we should give her the chance to live in a way that we didn't, but–"

"But boys." Laughter finally escaped, bubbling up and coming out of her in small puffs. Sasuke bristled, but still held her tightly. "You're going to have to let her go. Better now and with Boruto than Kiba's kid, right?"

"If he even looks at her I will burn all the hair off his dog." He paused for a moment before continuing, "I guess that at least I know I can give Naruto a helluva fight if anything happens."

"Let's not do that again, please. Only so many prosthetic arms to generate."

It was funny how they could talk about that last fight so calmly now. It hadn't always been that way. She remembered huge blow-ups because he would regress and disregard her, or he couldn't (or wouldn't, as she maintains) tell her what was going on in his mind. Because he didn't know her, not really. But they got to know each other, and the fights became less big and less important. Then one day, Sakura broke down in the middle of a minor argument causing Sasuke to have a minor freak out.

"What – why are you crying?!" She wiped the tears from her eyes, and smiled.

"Because we are arguing over whether or not tomatoes should be refrigerated, and Sasuke, this fight doesn't mean anything. We're fighting about something inconsequential. We're fighting about a stupid thing in our lives. Our life."

And Sasuke kissed her.

She had a good life. A happy one. And a happy marriage with a man who could have easily become a monster. Did become a monster.

But they deserved it, this happiness. After all the pain and anger and years of work, they deserved it. He did. She did.

"Sarada!" Sasuke called, and their one and only came running.

"Yes, father." Oh she did love this.

"You can go to that stupid festival, but you have to be home 10 minutes after the last firework explodes. Or I will come to your next team meeting and have a long chat with your sensei and your teammates." Sarada held it together quite admirably, Sakura thought. That was the Uchiha side coming through. Though did she hear a whispered Shannaro? Possibly.

"Thanks, mom."

"Excuse me?"

"And dad… I'm going to go…"

"Tell Uncle Naruto that we'll see him for dinner on Friday, okay?" Sarada blushed and nodded before running back into the house. Sasuke groaned and fell backward so he was lying on his back, staring straight at the sky.

"This is my life."

Sakura grinned and leaned over her husband, pressing her lips to his.

"This is your life, Sasuke-kun. Aren't you lucky?"

A/N: So I've been in fanfic retirement for like five years, but as Naruto just ended AND OUR SHIP BECAME CANON, I had to come back. I had to. Here is a short little one shot of an imagined scene of Sasuke and Sakura's domesticity. My fanfic muscles haven't seen a workout in a long time, so it's probably just okay. But whatever. I'm so happy I could burst bc my nine-year-old ship is friggin' canon.

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