Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

10,000 Days and 10,000 More

An epilogue

Sasuke and Neji strolled through the grounds of the park. Even with the throngs of visitors, it was still quiet compared to the neighborhood that was once known as the Uchiha district, but had long since simply been known as home.

Not that Sasuke minded the noise. In fact, it was less now than it had been and he had mixed feelings about it. For decades he'd lived with the growing hum of his connection to the park as well as a swelling din as his family continued to balloon into gigantic proportions.

He remembered when Shikamaru, who'd finally joined the Nara family to his by way of Hinata, had come to him and told him he no longer needed to maintain the memorial's chakra via sage clones. Shikamaru had told him that he was certainly welcome to continue and added that there was something poetic about a warrior's sage clones maintaining the park.

At the time, he thought he could handle both for a while longer if the eighty thousand children in his family could, just occasionally, hold it down a bit. He'd decided to try speaking with them, got as far as the inhale before shouting his first sentence, decided 'screw it' and turned the clones off a week later.

He and Neji reached their names on the wall, always their first destination, and stopped to read the inscriptions that they'd memorized many years ago. He studied the absolute explosion of lines to the right of their children, eight since they'd included Naruto's oldest son.

He didn't know most of the names added after the grandchildren's generation. He scratched his cheek as he remembered his daughter taking him to task for not being able to remember the names of all the family and extended family packing the acres around his house. There were over 100 buildings, since the wall between Hyuuga property and Uchiha property had been removed, and they were all packed with a sea of humans.

If one considered his children, the Hyuugas, the Naras, and Jomei and the mountain of relatives that were descended from him and his siblings, Sasuke reckoned they could populate their own small country.

Hell, he could barely tell them apart. They all ran around in herds and were here and then there so fast. One day their faces were covered in Pablum, the next they were covered with whiskers. How was he supposed to keep track?

He remembered his affront as a child when an elderly relative would call him Itachi or Shisui or, gods forbid, 'boy.' Now he had nothing but sympathy for his recall-challenged ancestors.

He looked at Naruto's name and considered that he was getting closer to the day he'd see his dobe again, if the universe worked that way. He looked to the left at the complicated web of lines comprising their ancestors and wondered if it was as crowded and noisy there as his kitchen was most evenings.

No, he didn't feel any sadness over Naruto's absence anymore. As he looked at the names on the wall, he felt real sadness when he looked at Itachi's name. There the line just stopped. To him, that was the real tragedy.

Many years ago, Neji had found a paper trail that shed light on the circumstances around Konoha's council, Itachi and his family. Although he had this information, he was no closer to understanding it. There was no force, either mortal or divine that would make him hurt his family, although there were a couple of dark haired imps he wouldn't mind locking in a closet occasionally.

He supposed Itachi really had been mad.

No, he and Neji liked the park, for of all things, the anonymity. There had been three Hokages since Neji finally stepped down, although Neji had been the last ninja; all subsequent leaders being men and women of commerce.

Their times were over and he remembered the bemusement he'd felt when the realization had hit him.

He'd overheard a child-laden family listening to a map salesman telling what he knew about the park. One child said in a loud whisper, "Those two old guys are holding hands."

Plucky in their later years, Neji and Sasuke turned to face them.

"Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Neji at your service." Sasuke bowed.

The salesman's face lit up. "Hey, I know who you are." He flipped through his 'Highlights of Leaf' book and evidently, buried somewhere on page thirty seven was a paragraph with their names in it.

"Oh yeah. You're part of the three men who raised a family." Sasuke raised a brow at what this particular publisher found print-worthy. The salesman ran his finger down the page. "The other was…Uzumaki Naruto?"

The man looked thoughtful. "I know that name. He killed a demon. Or maybe a demon killed him. Something like that?"

"Something like that," Neji confirmed.

"My friend said there's no such things as demons," the boy said.

"Certainly there are none now," Sasuke agreed.

"She says parents made 'em up for kids who won't eat their broccoli or finish their math homework," the boy added knowingly.

Both Neji's and Sasuke's lips twitched. Evidently Kyuubi's dominion had included green vegetables and long division. Who knew?

"You're pretty old," the chatty young man continued. "You ever see a demon?"

"In fact, I did." While he'd never actually seen Kyuubi, he had seen Gaara's demon as a child.

The boy looked doubtful. "What did it look like?"

"Large." Sasuke nodded, recalling. "And sandy."

"And," he added, "I vaguely remember the time after the nine-tails destroyed most of Konoha and killed hundreds of people."

The boy looked around at the impeccably maintained buildings, the small children chasing butterflies and the general cleanliness and prosperity of the area around them.

When Neji led him away, Sasuke went with the clear impression that the boy thought he was an ancient old fart who hadn't brought his mind into his dotage with his body.

A swarm of children crashed around his and Neji's legs. Red heads? Who the hell did these children belong to?

"We found 'em at the wall just like you said," one screamed over his shoulder.

"It's dinner time," another smeared something yellow on his favorite walking robe.

"You promised a story later, Great Grandfather."

Musing that he couldn't have done since he'd never seen this child before, he and Neji turned and went bravely, like the trained ninja they were, into the slavering jaws of their family.

Author's note:

Constellations is now complete and I thank those who decided to persevere through a story with a major character death.

For anyone interested, there is a bit of a personal history to this story. Constellations became my 'therapy' after I was diagnosed with cancer. Each component of the story became what I needed it to be. The family had to include Sasuke, Naruto and Neji. The personalities of these characters live inside me and each was vital in the daily ups and downs as well as my interpersonal dealings. Depending on whether I was dealing with my children, my coworkers, my husband, or if I was alone, I could have been any of those three characters.

Of course, my exploration was about the death of a major character, an integral family member. And while I anticipate reviews telling me that I should have stopped the story at Naruto's death, the 70 years beyond were actually the most important to me. I had to write a story that showed that life went on, that happiness returned.

I welcome all reviews, but before you put your fingers to the keyboard to review this, or any, story, perhaps taking a moment to put yourself in the author's shoes wouldn't be a waste of time. My plot is my plot. It tells the story I need to tell. That goes for any author posting here. Grammar, spelling, ability to tell the tale...? Have at it. THAT is why we put these things up here.

Oh yeah, I am cancer free now. I am happy to chat with anyone who has questions on the disease from discovery to cure. Feel free to contact me.