Author's Note: slightly revised and heavily edited. Thank you for all the reviews, hope you guys love this version as much or more!

I woke up with a sharp jolt.

Shapeless images danced rapidly around my vision and muted noises hung above my head as instinct ordered me to survey the dark room.

A sharp midnight breeze entered through the window and mingled with the sweat on my naked skin. Then, a cold embrace weighed me down as reality sets in.

"This again." A weary sigh escaped my swollen lips. This, the nightmare which haunts me every now and then, often enough that it was no longer a surprise, yet seldom still that it leaves me vulnerable. As if formless entities were strumming with my heart strings plangently, begging for attention.

I shivered, waiting for the pounding in my chest to slow down. I recalled the passionate hours to keep my mind from retracting into the darkness. I fought the blood-curdling screams with the timbre of my Sakura's pleased moans and small whimpers. I replaced the scenes of death with pictures of my wife's pink hair, curtaining her bright green eyes as she erratically moved her hips to achieve euphoria.

That's right. It's alright if I got aroused again and had to relieve it by myself (it's rude to wake someone up just for such an insolent reason).

I allowed myself to think of anything, everything, just to dispel the affective residue of the nightmare.

I clenched my fist. Think of anything but that.

"Sasuke-kun."

I flinched. A delicate hand rubbed my back. When I didn't respond, the hand trailed to my armless shoulder, and gave it an affectionate squeeze. The mattress shifted. Suddenly, it was no longer cold.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I bowed down and shook a no.

She made a sound behind her throat: a habit of hers when she's thinking. The hand on my shoulder nimbly traced the scars of my stump. She repeated this antic until my breathing went back to normal.

"I'm not supposed to tell," she started as she pressed her healthy breasts on my bare back, "but I think Sarada has already forgotten about it, so I guess it's okay now."

I grunted, encouraging her to continue.

She let out a giggle, "When Sarada was six she made a list called, 'Things That I'm Gonna Tell Papa When He Comes Home.' "

A small smile graced my lips. I gently shrugged her off. Understanding my actions, she pulled away and began piling pillows on the headboard. Once done, I rested my back on the make-shift lean. I opened my arm, gesturing for her to come closer. With a knowing smirk, she snatched a small pillow and placed it on my nether region before sitting on my lap.

She looped an arm round my neck. I pulled our comforter over our naked bodies and wrapped my arm around her waist.

"And?" I mumbled against her temple.

"Hmm…" her fingers played with my hair, "on the, let's say, side note of her list, she said, 'Papa comes home only once or twice a month. You have to persuade him to teach you something new.' Then at the bottom, there's a footnote that says, 'You have to perfect everything that Papa teaches you Sarada! Shannaro!'"

We chuckled quietly. Nuzzling her cheek on the crook of my neck, she continued, "If I remember correctly, one of her stories was when she finally perfected her shuriken throws. You should've seen her, Sasuke-kun. The look on her face…" Her eyes glazed as if she's remembering something miles away from the present. "Every day, I had to tend to her hands full of cuts."

My eyebrows knotted, trying to imagine it instead. A scene in the woods came to mind - towering trees around a small clearing; a child was standing at the center, eyes closed, envisioning the hidden bull's eyes that had to be simultaneously hit.

"Ah! Speaking of training, there's also 'I Finally Created a Katon Goukakyuu!'" She made a circle in the air, her viridian eyes gleaming with pride. She glanced up and reached for my forehead. "She never faltered even if her cheeks were blistered!

The picture of the woods melted into a river. The child now stood on a dock, and had the same blistered cheeks and aching chest.

She laughed softly at the memory. "You know what Sasuke-kun?" She tenderly brushed away the bangs covering my other eye then cupped my face, "She reminds me of you."

"..."

"Those genin days, no amount of training is enough." She wrinkled her nose disapprovingly. "It's very worrisome, painful yet inspiring to watch."

The child with eyes that could shine even if they're dark as coal.

She sheepishly, almost shamefully followed, "being a mother, sometimes, I just want her to stay swaddled in my arms, y'know?"

The child who had his head lifted, never faltering, as he chased his idol, his inspiration, his reason.

"And sometimes, I watch her sleep and… and-" An embarrassed chuckle escaped her lips, "whisper to myself, 'can you slow down, please?'"

The child whose heart cocooned itself in the last moments of his childhood.

"And, 'you're going too fast!'" Her eyes glazed over again, this time, with fear the near future brings.

Run, Sasuke.

"Gah!" Sakura shook her head and buried her face in my chest. "Just! What I'm trying to say is that…"

She'll also commit the same mistakes and sins that I did?

"She embodies you in so many ways…"

She'll get lost in the darkness too?

Sakura sighed dramatically, "Growing up too fast…"

The Sasuke who drowned in the countless tomoe spiraling in to a constant repetition.

"Is that bad?" I asked, the words coming out raspy and strained.

"Sasuke-kun"

"The life of a shinobi… We know very well that-" My hold on her waist loosened. "I mean, do you think that she will..."

"No."

"I should go-"

"Love."

I flinched back.

Her embrace tightened.

I turned my head away.

"Sasuke-kun." She gently cupped my face and brushed my bangs covering my powerful eyes. Our eyes met, holding the gaze, showing no fear.

"That's not what I'm trying to say."

"Ahhh."

She kissed the tip of my nose then pinched my cheeks.

"You got it all wrong Sasuke-kun!"

It was her blush and her futile effort to hide her breasts that supported her words.

"Ahhh I shouldn't have said that! I'm sorry Sasuke-kun!"

No. It's my fault. Sometimes… This heart of mine falters easily when reminded of its old scars.

"Hn." Having no idea how to return the ambiance of pure wholesomeness, I turned my attention to her belly and started to map out the smooth pattern of her stretch marks.

She gasped at the touch. She replied by tugging at my hair.

"It's alright, Sasuke-kun."

I have to turn the tables before this conversation goes downhill.

"What were you trying to say then?"

The crimson hue on her cheeks deepened. I pondered if it's because the trail of my fingers was leading deep down to her thighs or it's because of the illocutionary force behind her words.

Or maybe both.

I gently pinched her thigh. She whimpered lightly, confirming the former.

"I remember another story from her list," her voice strangled between decency and erotica, "t'was the d-day she went home late. Her eyes were puffy from crying and her glasses were broken."

"Who did it?" I asked sharply.

She massaged through my hair again to calm my nerves.

"Sarada was bullied. When I asked her who and why, she wouldn't tell me because she knew that I'd make a huge fuss about it."

"Do they not realize who Uchiha Sarada is?"

She kissed my forehead and continued, "It was Naruto's children who told me about it. Boruto explained, 'we found her crying under the slide because some jerks broke her glasses and told her she's adopted.'"

So that's when she started to doubt her mother. I pulled Sakura closer and pecked her forehead. She poked my chest and started to connect the scars that decorate my skin.

"But get this, Sasuke-kun, Sarada called that entry 'Daddy-like Kid'," she smirked, "and Hima-chan told me it was Boruto that made her stop crying."

I kept my expression blank but no doubt she noticed my muscles tensing up. All of the feelings of anxiety and panic attack had finally died down. However, it was now being replaced by absurd assumptions, fueled by my fatherly instincts, suggesting of what could be the possible future of-

"Darling," Sakura directed her lips on my ear, "your jealous side is showing~"

I cringed back to glare at her properly.

"I am not jealous."

She narrowed her eyes mischievously, challenging my infamous glare, "Oh really now." She copied my smirk.

"So it is fine Sarada thinks of Boruto as-"

I dove down to capture her lips, preventing her from saying another word about the ridiculous matter. She giggled at my growls, still teasing through the use of her lips and tongue and rising intimacy. She tried to withdraw from the assaults of my mouth but failed ultimately. She instead let her body melt into my dominance by audaciously asking for an entrance.

When I refused, she wrapped both arms around my neck, swiftly straddling me to regain control. She now had me trapped between her legs, boldly showing what lies between.

To further clarify the context of her demands, she lewdly grinded her hips, flattening the pillow (and something else beneath it that's throbbing) that prevented us from colliding.

I groaned out of frustration because that minimal amount of sensual pressure was not enough. I tried sliding off the pillow but she simply added more pressure to prevent me from moving. She took this as an opportunity to gasp for air as she annoyingly chortled. She brushed off my bangs again then placed her forehead to mine.

Our eyes met. "Are you okay now?"

I held her gaze. My heart picked up its pace. The countless, rotating tomoe dispelled under her emerald eyes and was replaced by a gleam that I thought would never come back.

It was my brother, Itachi and his sacrifice, that showed me the highest form of unmitigated familial love. It was the love that was buried 6 feet beneath deception and corruption.

"Sasuke-kun?" She caressed my cheeks. "Are we okay now?"

I captured her lips again, slowly, devotedly, reverting from the animalistic desires earlier. Her hands found their way to my hair again, tying knots, drawing me closer. My shoulders relaxed as the temperature of the room rose once again.

It was Naruto, the idiot, who made me realize that I have someone who can understand the hunger of an orphaned kid starving for love. It was him who taught me that it's vacuous to sacrifice your own happiness so that you can cold-heartedly save the world.

"Sa-ku-ra…" My fingers outlined her spine with every syllable of her name, armed with the knowledge that the gesture turns her on.

"S-sasuke…" She moaned as my lips ghosted to her jaw, then to her chin and then peppered hot nips on her neck. One of her hands relocated to my chest, drawing smooth lines leading leisurely down to my chiseled abs. She dared an experimental thrust, causing me to bite down at her pulse, earning herself a love mark and prizing me with the sweet, sweet sound of her whimpers.

"Sakura…"

And it was you, who never gave up on loving me despite my hatred and cruelty. It was your love that conjured a mirthful place amidst the chaos in my mind, a place where all forgotten memories reside. Everything about you - your lively eyes, your ever loyal heart, your boar-like determination, proved to me that one of the justifiable means to obtain peace is to truly, faithfully, unconditionally love.

"Sasuke-kun…" She whined unabashedly as my lips latched themselves to one of her pink, perky breasts. Her hand ventured below the belt, trying to remove the pillow. It was my turn to halt her from getting what she wanted as I embraced her closer, closer, until our torsos mashed. I rolled her other nipple between my teeth, making her arch her back, allowing me to behold a better view of her arousal.

I thought about it as I was on a journey to redemption - it was Naruto and Itachi, my brothers who allowed me to forgive the world.

And that, it was Team Seven that reminded me what it's like to have a family.

"Sa-ku-ra-chan." I mumbled against the valley of her bosoms.

I don't know how to tell you, so instead, let me show you… you who convinced me that it was time to forgive myself.

"Sa-su-ke-kun?"

Let me prove to you…

Sakura Uchiha, who strengthened our bond by graciously adopting my name even if you knew the burden it carried, even if you knew I would be seldom home, resulting in numerous rumors about our marriage. For example, I chose you because of physical attraction or maybe because I couldn't be bothered to search for a more suitable vassal to restore the Uchiha Clan.

I returned to her sweet lips.

That I'm forever thankful…

As a response to those accusations, you intrepidly showed those people, who would never understand, that the time you can truly say that it is love is when-even if all the bits and pieces of flaws are laid bare and even if hope is just a small ray of light, it is enough to sacrifice, to inspire one in holding on and moving on along love and hate.

She shivered as my lips crawled to her ear. I tried to subtly slide away the pillow between our… ah… object of desire but she ceased my attempt by clutching my waist with her muscled legs, pressing her drenched core against me.

"Darling… I want you to know that one of the things that Sarada listed…" She pulled at my hair to make me look at her irises again, staring me down, stating that her next words are quite important.

They say that there is a thin line between true love and stupidity…

"…she wants a baby brother…"

…I don't know where we fall Sakura. But, who cares, right?

I narrowed my eyes mischievously, enjoying that flustered expression she had on her face, "oh really now." I smirked.

We just love.

My hand moved on its own, searing every inch of skin it fondled.

"I love you, Sasuke-kun…" She proclaimed once again.

These words are left unsaid yet you understand.

But before my lone hand wandered to the area where it would minister miracles (as she describes it) it folded into an all too familiar hand sign to give Sakura's forehead a light tap.

That's the reason why I chose you.

And it will always be you…

Author's Note: this story still gives me the tomato cheeks and stupid smiles. Did you have it too? Let me know by leaving a review! Thank you for reading~