Unplanned

Sasuke

This chapter was beta-read by: Sakura's Unicorn

The old Uchiha compound is the only part of Konoha that has not been demolished in the name of progress. Sasuke gazes across the unpaved road at the old police station, crumbling and lifeless but for the ghosts that inhabit it. Like the other cracked ruins of his former life, it remains undisturbed, moss and vines creeping across the faded uchiwa emblems.

His former home was never rebuilt properly after Pain's assault on the village, or in the frenzy following the war. Most inhabitants of Konoha believed it was time to let the past go. With the last two Uchiha dead and itinerant respectively, there was no one to champion its restoration.

Naruto offered, once, in the days while he and Sasuke recovered from their last battle.

"I can talk to Granny Tsunade – and I bet Kakashi would agree," he said, picking at his bandages. "So you have something to return to." He narrowed his eyes. "Because you are returning."

The 'or I will drag your ass back here even if I have to rip off your other arm and beat you unconscious to do it' went unspoken.

"There's no need," Sasuke had replied. Since conceding defeat to his long-time rival, he was experiencing an oddly peaceful outlook on the future. "That time is over."

He doesn't want the constant remembrance of the segregation his clan suffered due to the villagers' distrust. Still, every so often, he needs to come back here and reminisce—to remind himself of how bad a legacy of hatred can make life.

Sarada has never felt that type of isolation. She and Sakura made a life in the heart of the city, surrounded by people who love and care for them. She and this next child – the son he never expected – will also grow up undefined by the sense of otherness that Sasuke and Itachi experienced.

Oh, there are comments and awed whisperings, of course. He's noticed them more since he's been back permanently. But his daughter – his children – will be strong enough to weather them. Sarada already has her mother's temper and monstrous right hook, so he doesn't worry for her in that respect.

He knows that she is dealing with other challenges. Chief among them being all of the sudden changes in her life; specifically, the prospect of a younger sibling. She has become more reserved over the last seven months and her tongue just a little sharper.

He suspects she's inherited his tendency to stew in bitterness, but he doesn't know how to address this with her. Naruto is the one who likes to give long, heartfelt speeches. Sasuke has always dealt with his feelings by getting his fists bloody. As for Sakura, she's full of maddeningly unhelpful advice of late.

"Darling, she's a teenager," she insisted when he made an offhand remark about Sarada's recent attitude. He hoped his wife would magically infer that he wanted her to talk to their daughter and find out what's going on. "Do you remember what we were like at that age? I was a mess of hormones and self-esteem issues, and you... If anyone had asked you how you were feeling back then, would you have answered? Or tried to set them on fire?"

Which is all true, but it doesn't make experiencing his daughter's surliness any easier, especially as he knows she's unhappy.

It is, of course, just another conundrum he is dealing with since returning to the Leaf for good.

With the remaining members of the Ōtsutsuki gone, he lost his reason for wandering even before Sakura announced her pregnancy. In this time of unprecedented peace, most villages don't even need help to recover anymore.

Sasuke is very much at a loss for what to do.

He's travelled the world since he was thirteen, and in that time, discovered a craving for drifting that he never even realised he harbored until abandoning Konoha. But now there is no vengeance to carry out or redemption to find. It's all over now and he does not understand what he's supposed to do. With the exception of supporting his wife and preparing for the birth of their next child, the last few months have been unbearably dull.