Sayuri had shifted into the Ishikawa family's lodge along with Miyu and two warriors who were there for security reasons. She had to stay there until her child was born and then they would be safely brought back to the base.

In the meantime, Ryuu had taken command of the clan and was proceeding with the battles the way he had discussed with Sayuri, Tanjiro, and Ichiro beforehand. He couldn't meet her frequently and in fact, no one from the base went to that lodge as they had to make sure their enemies didn't track Sayuri's location through them.

So months passed yet Sayuri hadn't been able to see Ryuu. He kept her informed about everything through letters but that too had to be done carefully so that those messages weren't intercepted.

However, from the past few weeks she was worried as she couldn't contact Jack anymore. The phone number she had was unreachable and even if Tim had a phone by then, she did not have his number.

She was worried that their link of contact had severed and there could be a troublesome reason behind it yet there was nothing she could do about it just yet. All she could do was hope that the war ended soon so that she would be able to go to Gotham with Ryuu and find out where her family was at that moment.

Something bad must have happened or else Jack had never declined her calls even if she had called at midnight due to differences in their time zone. So the fact that his phone was unreachable and he hadn't reached out to her either struck her as odd.

Time passed swiftly and Sayuri was blessed with a baby boy whom she wanted to name Kai. Miyu had dispatched the news of Kai's birth to the main base so that Ryuu would be informed as well when he returned from the battles.

Currently their clan had managed to uproot almost all of the League's strongholds in their country and the surrounding areas which was a big accomplishment in itself. Their last target was much more difficult however, as it was the League of Assassin's primary base in Nanda Parbat.

Two days later, Ryuu came to the lodge himself as he had just returned to the base and received the good news. He didn't stop to rest even as he left for the lodge and reached there by evening.

The warriors positioned at the gate bowed to him before letting him in. And as he stepped in, he was quite eager to see Sayuri and the newborn baby.

Miyu was just coming out of the room and she paused seeing Ryuu there but then smiled, bowing her head before leaving.

He pushed open the door of the bedroom, a soft lullaby drifting towards him as Sayuri was singing while putting the child to sleep. He didn't immediately say anything, pausing by the door to see her rock the little bundle of blankets in her arms and it painted quite a rare picture for him.

The soft song was quite pleasant on the ears and he was thinking about how different it was to see Sayuri like that while all he had seen her was as a warrior, battling ferociously against her enemies.

It seemed as if the baby had fallen asleep as she looked up and got startled to see Ryuu's reflection in the mirror.

"Ryuu!"

But he gestured her to not be so loud as their child had just gone to sleep. He came to sit beside her and looked at the adorable little boy she was holding.

He couldn't see the eyes but otherwise it was clear that the boy had taken after him in appearance.

"I was thinking of naming him Kai," Sayuri spoke in a low voice and he looked up at her, "because I want to name him after his grandmother."

He paused but then nodded, "it's a beautiful name. Kai Ishikawa..."

As he was sitting close to her then and she had overcome the surprise of seeing him there, she noticed his features closely. His face was scratched as if he had just come back from the battlefield and there was a scar on his neck and another deep cut on his sword wielding hand.

He must be injured more than she could see right then and concern flickered in her eyes as she wanted to make sure that he was doing fine too.

Her hands reached out to cup his face, fingers brushing over the scratches carefully.

"I'm fine," he told her before she could ask, placing a gentle kiss on her lips, "tell me, how have you been?"

"I... I'm fine too," she nodded, "and very happy to see you here."

"Likewise," his smile widened and he looked down sensing that Kai was waking up.

Sayuri could have rocked him back to sleep but Ryuu stopped her, wanting to hold his son instead.

Those tiny eyes fluttered open and Ryuu saw that he had inherited Sayuri's beautiful grey eyes, although he looked a lot like Ryuu otherwise.

Very carefully he lifted the bundled up child out from Sayuri's arms, holding him close. The warmth that spread through his heart upon seeing the child react to him and those grey eyes blink twice made Ryuu wonder whether it was a natural feeling that a father had when holding his firstborn child or not.

He felt as if every good thing from the whole wide world couldn't compare to the happiness he could experience at that moment. And it was such an overwhelming moment that he felt his eyes would well up with tears.

He was holding his son, Kai Ishikawa, the next heir of the Sasuke clan who they had named after his own mother Kaiko.

"Sayuri, I had imagined this moment each time I was out there, trying my best to fight and stay alive," he spoke up and Sayuri came close to him, her head resting on his shoulder as she watched him gently stroked their son's cheek, "each time I felt all was lost, I motivated myself by thinking I had to return to you and by the time I'll come back, I will get to see our child as well. Every single time things got bad I would tell myself that it will be worth it in the end..."

She knew he seldom spoke that much and right then he had been so moved that he wanted to tell her exactly how he felt.

"Now that I'm here with you and holding Kai in my arms... This feeling is much more beautiful than I could ever imagine. I'm so glad you two are safe and I was able to make it back to you."

She rubbed his back soothingly, her head still resting on his shoulder while her eyes were welling up too. "I was so scared earlier. But now you're here and I feel like everything will turn out for the better."

"It will," he took the dainty little hand of his son and kissed it, watching the boy squirm in the blankets, "we will overcome it together."

Right then as he was back with his wife and child, he felt that his family had gotten complete. There was only the war to put an end to by then and after that they would finally achieve the dream they had been striving for so long.

***