Something I thought up while I am recovering from a nasty cold. It just popped into my head and I had to write it down.

First time using the mobile app to post, so it may end up a bit messy, will be fixing on my laptop later.

Edit: figured out how fix the errors.

Double Edit (4/26/17): I swore I had gone over this story more than 3 times before I posted it, but I must've been delirious when I posted it at 5 am, because I read it earlier today and noticed a few issues so I'm fixing some annoyances.

I should also probably mention that this oneshot takes place after Sasuke leaves for the scouting mission. I tried to keep it true to the storyline, and I never mention Sarada's age because of that. According to the manga, Sasuke left when she was a toddler and they taught her to walk, so she most likely was beginning to talk by the time he left too.

I hope you enjoy.

Sakura could not stop remembering the day that he left, now a few months ago.

The sadness in his eyes, them standing outside the gates of Konoha. Sarada's arms around his neck, hugging so tightly, refusing to unlatch herself, her face pressed tightly against her papas. Telling him in her newly forming language that she didn't want him to leave.

She remembered how she saw the tears streaking his face, a very rare sight for the male Uchiha, and a painful, chest gripping reminder of his love for the both of them.

Her own tears flowed freely down her eyes as she watched her husband pry their child from his neck with his one arm before placing a kiss onto her small forehead and ruffling her equally dark locks before moving to stand and approach his wife.

She remembered how he used his sole hand to brush away her tears before she pulled him into a hug. She rested her nose into his silky hair, breathing him in, trying to hold onto his scent for as long as she could. The smell of him was indescribable, like musk- manly, yet soothing, his scent never failed to ground her, to calm her and cause her to melt into him.

She knew that they didn't have much time but she hoped that if she wished hard enough that they could remain suspended in this moment forever.

Their lips met at last, a sense of urgency and panic for their growing loss of remaining time. Not caring who might be watching, she tasted him for one last time until his return.

When they parted she bent down to pick up Sarada who had been clinging tightly to her papa's pant leg. After settling the toddler in her arms and watching her husband affectionately poke their daughter on the forehead before leaning down to kiss the same area again, she handed off his bento before seeing his goodbye.

Tears streamed down her face as she recalled the bittersweet memory, facing the sink with her hands still in soapy water. She knew she had to remain strong, and that a few months was nothing compared to the seemingly insurmountable amount of time she knew he would be gone. He was protecting her, their child, their home, their village.

He trusted her to raise their child and be strong, but some days she felt herself faltering and breaking down, unable to bear the constant weight of the burden. She knew that it would be her job on days like this to pick herself up again and march on, because not only did she have herself to think of, she had a beloved child to take care of.

She felt the presence of that said child approaching behind her.

"Mama, where papa?" She asked to her mother's back, almost as if she had forgotten it was explained to her the day before. Her voice sounded sure and steady, unaware her mother had been crying.

Sakura lifted her hands out of the water before drying them on a cloth that was resting on the counter next to the sink. She looked down through tear soaked eyes and noticed her hands had shriveled from the water. She turned the cloth on her face next, wiping away all traces of tears before turning to face the girl.

"Papa had to go away, to make sure Mama and Sarada stay safe," She said softly to the toddler, squatting down to the girl's level, offering the simplest explanation that she believed her young mind might begin to understand with time, "He won't be back for a long time, but he loves Sarada and mama."

She had been repeating it since Sasuke had left. She knew the questioning would fade over time as the girl began to understand what was happening, and tried not to let the innocent question bring fresh tears to her eyes.

Sakura pulled Sarada into a bear hug, her large hand resting on the tiny uchiwa fan embroidered into her daughter's tiny shirt, the marking of their connection. She rubbed it in circular motions trying to comfort herself more than her toddler.

"Come, Sarada, let's get ready for bed"

She had dreamed of him again, of his warm body next to hers, his arm around her waist, and his face nestled in his favorite spot in her neck. She had dreamed of his even breathing against her neck and his calming, intoxicating scent. When she woke up and felt the empty cold that replaced his side of the bed, the dip still remaining where his body used to lay, she wept.

Her dreams of him where more devastating than happy since he left, and she found that nights were the hardest part of the day without him.

She curled up in a ball, her knees nearly to her chest, willing herself to stop crying and for sleep to take her again. That was until she heard the small creak of the door opening, and the padding of the small feet of her daughter, toddling into the room.

"Mama?"

Sakura looked up through tear stained eyes at her child.

"Why are you still awake, Sarada?" She said softly, trying to hide the shaking of her voice to avoid concerning the child.

"Miss papa," her high voice holding a hint of sadness.

Sakura knew that she had to hold it together for her, that Sarada seeing her so distraught over Sasuke being gone would only further traumatize the young child. She decided for a sympathetic, but more restrained response. She wiped her eyes dry before saying "I miss papa too, dear."

She motioned for Sarada to climb into bed with her, patting the empty space her papa would always lay. Sakura heard quick pitter pattering around the foot of the bed and felt it shake slightly as the toddler hauled herself up into it before crawling into her mother's arms.

She rested her small head under Sakura's chin, her mother giving her a lingering kiss on her warm forehead before winding her arms around her small frame.

Sleep came to both of them shortly after and the mother and daughter found that together they could fend off the sadness when the sun goes down, in each other's arms, waiting patiently for his return. They wouldn't do it every night, but on particularly bad days when Sarada could see the pain in her mama's eyes and she missed her papa the most she would crawl in next to her, soothing both of their pains.