p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was in the middle of the night and it was pouring freezing rain, and Sasuke Uchiha was standing on her doorstep./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"His eyes were dark even in the light that poured from her doorway, and didn't meet hers. A few moments of silence slipped by as Sakura waited for him to say something, anything that would make up for five more years that had passed between them. He'd made amends with Konoha and Naruto and left for his journey to find himself. emAs if words could make a bridge/em, as if apologies could patch up all the scars he'd left her./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He was older, his jaw more square and speckled with scars, his clothes baggy and sewed up in places and worn. In his arms he held a lump of cloth, and in the middle of that cloth was a baby's fat cheeked face. Sakura's clenched the door as her patience for an explanation grew thin./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Karin's baby," he finally said. "The father died a few months back. Karin didn't make it either."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sasuke looked down at the child for a lingering minute before holding the baby out to her. Sakura's mouth fell open and she froze in place./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I can't take her with me. She needs a home."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Still in shock, but unable to deny the orphan, Sakura held out her arms, taking the squirming bundle into her grasp./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Thank you, Sakura."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sasuke finally met her gaze, nodded, and turned around. Sakura was still motionless in the doorway, her eyes falling to the baby in her arms. She reached to lift the blanket out of its face, and what she saw made her jaw clench. The baby's hair was as black as the mop on Sasuke's head. The sting of rejection throbbed in her sore heart, a pain she thought she'd forgotten- a longing she thought she'd buried. Sasuke was lying. The child was unmistakably his./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Sasuke," she finally said. She was unable to ignore how small her voice sounded./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"A few feet away, he stopped, and looked over his shoulder at her, with something in his expression she couldn't place. Apprehension, guilt, something. It only made Sakura angrier./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Don't come back."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"strongNotice /strongEveryone can stop telling me that "just cause Sarada has glasses doesn't mean she's Karin's child." Yes emobviously/em. But I don't like Sasuke and I don't like the idea of Sakura having a kid with him. That's why this story exists. If you're pro-SakuraxSasuke, my fanfic is not the place for you to be./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"His eyes were dark even in the light that poured from her doorway, and didn't meet hers. A few moments of silence slipped by as Sakura waited for him to say something, anything that would make up for five more years that had passed between them. He'd made amends with Konoha and Naruto and left for his journey to find himself. emAs if words could make a bridge/em, as if apologies could patch up all the scars he'd left her./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He was older, his jaw more square and speckled with scars, his clothes baggy and sewed up in places and worn. In his arms he held a lump of cloth, and in the middle of that cloth was a baby's fat cheeked face. Sakura's clenched the door as her patience for an explanation grew thin./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Karin's baby," he finally said. "The father died a few months back. Karin didn't make it either."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sasuke looked down at the child for a lingering minute before holding the baby out to her. Sakura's mouth fell open and she froze in place./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I can't take her with me. She needs a home."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Still in shock, but unable to deny the orphan, Sakura held out her arms, taking the squirming bundle into her grasp./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Thank you, Sakura."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sasuke finally met her gaze, nodded, and turned around. Sakura was still motionless in the doorway, her eyes falling to the baby in her arms. She reached to lift the blanket out of its face, and what she saw made her jaw clench. The baby's hair was as black as the mop on Sasuke's head. The sting of rejection throbbed in her sore heart, a pain she thought she'd forgotten- a longing she thought she'd buried. Sasuke was lying. The child was unmistakably his./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Sasuke," she finally said. She was unable to ignore how small her voice sounded./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"A few feet away, he stopped, and looked over his shoulder at her, with something in his expression she couldn't place. Apprehension, guilt, something. It only made Sakura angrier./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Don't come back."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" /p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"strongNotice /strongEveryone can stop telling me that "just cause Sarada has glasses doesn't mean she's Karin's child." Yes emobviously/em. But I don't like Sasuke and I don't like the idea of Sakura having a kid with him. That's why this story exists. If you're pro-SakuraxSasuke, my fanfic is not the place for you to be./p