I'm back with another drabble thing...? I don't know. These are things that float around in my head.
Anyway, some characters, as you will see, are my creation. Please don't take them too to heart. If you have your own idea of what Sasuke's children will be like, then by all means, continue envisioning them.
I think I like this as a one-shot, but I can see how it can become a bit of a series. So I might plan, depending on reactions.
As always, reviews are appreciated.
Chapter 1: The Most Like
Uchiha Sasuke was absent at his first son's birth.
It wasn't for lack of trying. He had been reassured by several medical experts, including his own wife, that the baby would not come for at least another week and the overnight mission would not be a problem.
Knowing Haru now, his impatience and often impertinent tendency to rush everything, it made sense the child would rush his own birth. He could only imagine the energy and noise with which his eldest son came into the world. He was a blazing pillar of personality and vibrance that had little to do with him and everything to do with Sakura.
When Sasuke had returned from his mission the following morning an exhausted but glowing Sakura had greeted him with a bright smile. He raised an eyebrow at her sudden shrink in size, which made her giggle.
He had rushed with her to the hospital, where their perfect first-born was waiting, fast asleep and wrapped to his chin in a dark blue blanket.
His mother's vivaciousness would save him in the end. His glowing smile and the sparkle in his eyes would make him a popular, charismatic leader. The boys heart was in the right place, Sasuke could see, even if his head was sometimes filled with his mother's same naiveté.
Still, the combination of Sakura's chakra control and Sasuke's sharingan had created quite a powerful mix. He knew his eldest son was a sure candidate to take over the position of Chief of Police, pending his retirement.
Sasuke wondered what would last longer, his stubborn refusal to accept his old age and the fact that he lived to retirement, or his son's persistence.
He secretly hoped the latter.
It was known in Konoha that of all Uchiha Sasuke's children, Uchiha Haru was the most like Uzamaki Naruto.
….
Sasuke was present at his second son's birth, even if Sakura did not want him there.
Sakura's second pregnancy had been hard, and with the deterioration of their marriage, came the deterioration of Sakura's health.
What had brought them to this point Sasuke did not know, but her pregnancy with Haku was Sakura's unhappiest.
He was not aware, at first, that Sakura was in the hospital. He had moved out of the house in her second trimester. She was in the middle of paperwork for their divorce. Yet divorcing an Uchiha, with assets and children to consider had been more difficult than Sakura expected.
Sasuke did not go into the delivery room, as per Sakura's request. However, he did hold his second son just minutes after he came into the world, better than he had done with his first.
To her credit, Sakura was very civil during their discussion of what to name him. After some deliberation, it was decided he would be named Haku.
Sasuke expected no more children, given the state of his marriage. What pained him most is both boys soon had Sakura's glowing green eyes. He hated to see those emeralds gazing at him from beneath dark spikes of hair.
Haku showed signs of the wear and tear of Sakura's tumultuous pregnancy. Unlike his brother, he did not sleep soundly but woke crying many times through the night. He was restless and fussy and often seemed bothered when Sasuke was not there.
Eventually Sasuke had to sleep on the couch, should the child wake and Sakura be unable to quiet him alone.
The weeks after Sakura's pregnancy were difficult for her too. Sasuke could see the weariness and exhaustion in her every time Haku cried.
Eventually Shizune called Sasuke in for a serious conversation. Irritable because he had fought with Sakura that morning as they were going over details of the divorce with their lawyer, he was short and rude with the woman.
Shizune managed to shake him, however, by informing him she had diagnosed Sakura that morning. Postpartum depression was common among female ninja, she explained. Often the stress of the job and the stress of being a mother became too much.
Sasuke blinked at her silently.
There came a warm spring day, however, when Haku was not quite a year when Sakura was declared well. It did not take long for them to reconcile.
Sasuke vowed he would never lose a member of his family again. It would be a difficult promise to keep.
Haku would forever bear the marks of his sad first year of life. He was silent, taciturn and, at time, unforgivingly harsh, just like his father. The only thing Sakura could have given him besides chakra control and his green eyes, was his ability to heal wounds.
Despite this, he rose steadily in ranks as ANBU. Competition was brutal between Haku and Haru, until the wisdom of maturity calmed it.
Yet in Konoha it was known that of all Uchiha Sasuke's children, Uchiha Haku was the most like him.
….
Uchiha Sanosuke suffered from middle-child syndrome for quite some time.
He was the only child for which Sasuke was present for his delivery. Of anything else, Sano had little to say of his father.
He grew into a talented shinobi and a master of genjutsu, yet he found himself content to follow Haru's lead, often stumbling into the same failings that his mother's naïve, trusting heart caused his brother. He was talkative and, at times, laughably friendly.
Sasuke often wondered what his own father, so reserved and with little patience, would have thought of this grandson.
Hard as he try, Sano was forever the middle child. He trailed behind Haru and Haku, often fighting them in ways not visible except to Sasuke's well-trained eye.
Sasuke sometimes blamed himself. He had too often showered praise and attention upon Haru and Haku, relishing in their accomplishments. By the time Sano reached their level, things like discipline and strength were expected of the Uchiha children, and were not rewarded.
Sasuke had turned out to be almost exactly like Fugaku in the end. He did not enjoy this about himself.
Given the circumstances, Sano made well for himself, remembered as the only one of the Uchiha children that stayed out of grave trouble.
Of all Uchiha Sasuke's children, Uchiha Sanosuke was known to be the most like Haruno Sakura.
….
Sasuke's last son was special. At first, Sasuke was scared it was in a "stop eating the paste" kind of way. But the child proved differently.
The pregnancy and birth was the easiest of all for Sakura. She barely had cravings and was never sick in the morning. The labor was fast and easy. Sasuke did not have time to enter the delivery room before his fourth son was born.
The chid was named Athrun by Sakura. Sasuke did not care very much for the name. It was foreign and strange, and he had a feeling Sakura had picked it up somewhere along their travels.
Athrun was the only Uchiha child who needed glasses. Sasuke found this odd.
His eyes were the same twinkling emerald as his mother's and brothers, his sharingan worked well. Yet when there was no sharingan, the child was a blind as a bat.
Sakura found it quite amusing.
After some time, Sasuke came to the conclusion that the black thick-framed glasses suited the boy well.
Athrun was the only Uchiha child who spent more than a few minutes in the ancient Uchiha library. He absorbed scroll after scroll, book after book, unafraid of what the written history of his clan revealed.
He once inquired very calmly if Sasuke had known of his grandfather's plot to take over the village. Sakura was very fond of him. If she could admit it, he would have been her favorite.
For the first few years of his life, Athrun did not speak very much. It unnerved Sasuke for some time, until he became accustomed to it.
However he was still amazed when he found a six-year-old Athrun reading The Art of War diligently, even though he had yet to say a complete sentence.
Athrun grew into the finest shinobi of his brothers. Somehow, Sakura managed to convince Nara Shikamaru to take the child under his wing at a very young age. Sasuke thought it had something to do with a game of shogi.
Athrun became an excellent strategist. His missions for ANBU were the highest ranked, most classified and deadliest. Sasuke sometimes wondered what kind of a toll they took upon his most reserved and gentle son.
Though his power and quiet steadiness came from him, Athrun's merciful and kind nature was a reflection of Sakura.
Perhaps that was why it became known in Konoha that of all Uchiha Sasuke's children, Uchiha Athrun was the most like Uchiha Itachi.
….
The youngest Uchiha was also Sasuke's only daughter.
This delivery was the hardest for Sakura. Sasuke often thought this was the reason she insisted there would be no more children. Both mother and daughter almost did not make it.
Uchiha Saraiyu was small compared to her brothers and remained small for most of her childhood. This gave Sasuke cause for protecting her, sometimes too much.
Saraiyu was another strange name Sakura dug up at her own will. Sasuke did not argue because he thought it was unique and beautiful, even if it was a little hard to understand. Just like his daughter.
The youngest Uchiha child was spoiled beyond belief for a very long time. She was not only doted on by both parents, but by all four brothers as well.
Hatake Kakashi aptly informed her she was the Uchiha princess. The girl took this title to heart and ruled mercilessly, despite her small size.
It was difficult to say no to her sparkling green eyes, wide smile and long dark curls that had settled somewhere between her mother's pink and her father's black into an odd shiny, dark blue.
She was clever, sometimes too clever for her own good. Sasuke often blamed himself for spoiling her rotten.
In the Uchiha clan, women did not develop the sharingan. There were, however, two great exceptions to that rule.
One, was the wife of Uchiha Madara. Though Sasuke was not sure how, the clan's ancient scrolls talked of the great power of this woman's eyes. Sasuke often wondered if the secret origins of his clan's powerful techniques laid in her.
The second was somewhere along his father's grandfather's line. A strange anomaly, Uchiha Hiro had become one of Konoha's most powerful female ninja.
But it was still a surprise when Saraiyu's eyes began to ache and bleed and she cried out in the same pain her brothers had.
Sasuke confined her in her bedroom, shades drawn and lights off. He diligently prepared remedies from his mother's recipe book and placed warm cloths on her forehead and eyelids.
Still, he could not control his shock when the small girl, pale and frail, opened her eyes and revealed deep velvet red.
Sasuke was also not prepared for how quickly Saraiyu caught up with her brothers. And then surpassed them.
Clever, talented, strong and ruthless, Saraiyu learned quickly how little princesses become dangerous queens.
Sasuke was not prepared for any of this, and by the look on Sakura's face, neither was she.
Yes, Sasuke decided, it was his fault.
He had spoiled her, given her everything she wanted and expected nothing of the discipline, loyalty and strength he had expected of her brothers.
And as she stood, blue electric charges rippling across her body, her ruby red lips quirk up into a sinister smirk, Sasuke thought he could almost feel a familiar savage and dark power radiating off of her.
Athrun seemed the only one unsurprised by her. In fact, for some time, Sasuke had felt a rift between his youngest children, a sudden coldness in their treatment of each other.
And as he glanced at his son he could see that he was steeling himself, in his own quiet manner, for the day he would have to face his sister's wrath.
Because only's Athrun's sharp eyes and quick mind could have seen how spoiled and power-hungry the youngest Uchiha would become.
Because Sasuke's sons had learned loyalty above anything else. Loyalty to village, loyalty to clan, loyalty to family.
He had never thought to drill this into her as he had them. How foolish he was.
And so it was known throughout Konoha that of all Uchiha Sasuke's children, Uchiha Saraiyu was the most like Uchiha Madara.
