The first birthday they celebrated after they were married was Sakura's twenty-first. They had gotten married the past June, and were currently expecting their first child (whom they would find out a week later was a daughter), but Sakura didn't want to do anything major for her birthday. She simply wanted to stay home with her husband and have a quiet birthday.
That was, in the end, what Sakura got. Sasuke had made sure earlier in the week to threaten Naruto within an inch of his life if he interrupted the two that Saturday, and Naruto, knowing that Sasuke was serious when it came to Sakura, agreed and never showed up.
"I'm really surprised Naruto and Hinata never showed up…"
Sasuke just barely glanced at Sakura, before looking back to the book he was reading, a small smirk on his face. She had no idea he had told the blonde not to show up that day, and, hopefully, she never would.
"Maybe they decided to stay home with that kid of theirs."
"His name is Bolt, Sasuke-kun."
"Hn." Sasuke shrugged, while Sakura rolled her eyes. Sasuke had practically made it a mission to forget the newborn Uzumaki's name when he met the child, just in case he and Sakura had a daughter.
"That child will NOT be marrying my daughter."
"Sasuke-kun!"
Of course, Sakura and Hinata thought that it would adorable if, should she and Sasuke have a daughter, their children get married one day, but they also knew Naruto and Sasuke would, probably, be vehemently against it, and decided to let it go until their children were much, much older.
"Hey, Sasuke—" Sakura didn't get the chance to finish her sentence before Sasuke next to her, holding out a wrapped up box in his hand, looking away with a slight blush on his face.
"H-Here."
"…is this a birthday present?"
Sasuke nodded, making Sakura smile as she took the box and opened it, smiling even more when she saw the Uchiha fan pendant. Honestly, she hadn't expected that kind of a gift, even after she told Sasuke not to do anything for her birthday since she wanted to save money to get things for their child, but this was something she absolutely loved.
"Thank you, Sasuke-kun! It's so pretty!"
Sasuke looked at Sakura gain, smiling very softly, "You're welcome… happy birthday, Sakura."
+!+
"Sarada, stop hitting mama's laptop, sweetie."
"Sarada, listen to your mother."
Sakura laughed as Sarada blinked, looking at the computer screen and giggling as Sasuke smiled at her, telling their eight-month-old how much she had grown in just a few short weeks. He had been sent on a mission by Kakashi and was currently away, even though it was Sakura's birthday. Though, he hadn't said anything about it yet, making her believe he had forgotten what day it was.
I bet he really did forget…
"Sarada," Sakura smiled at her daughter, who looked up at her and babbled a bit. "Tell papa how much you miss him. Tell him how upset you get at night when he's not here."
"Does she really?" Sasuke was surprised at that, believing Sarada was perfectly fine whenever he was away on missions, because he hadn't heard otherwise from Sakura.
"Mm-hm," she nodded, setting her chin on Sarada's head lightly. "She cries and kicks when I get her ready for bed; says "no, no" when I start to rock her…we really miss you."
Sasuke nodded, giving a smile to his wife and daughter. "I know… I'll be back in a week, promise."
"Yeah, you better." Sakura mumbled with a laugh.
For a few minutes, the only sound was Sarada's constant babbling, as her parents' watched her wave her arms, open and close her hands at the computer screen when she looked at Sasuke. Sakura truly wanted to ask Sasuke if he remembered what day it was, but she didn't want to sound like a five-year-old when she asked.
"Sasuke-kun—"
"Tell your mother "happy birthday", Sarada."
"Sasu—"
"Give her a kiss for me, too."
While Sarada continued to babble, Sakura blinked in surprise, before smiling happily and turning her small daughter around in her lap, hugging her close as Sarada did as she was told, kissing her mother on the cheek and giggling.
"Thank you, Sasuke-kun. Sarada."
"You're welcome."
+!+
"Mama…mama!"
Sakura groaned a bit, hiding her head under her blanket while Sasuke laughed at her and Sarada sat next to her, flailing her arms and softly hitting her mother on her arm.
"Why is she awake? Do you know what time it is?"
Sasuke shrugged, still smiling. "Yes, I know. She woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep when I tried to rock her. Kept saying "mama, mama", like she knew it was your birthday or something."
Sighing, Sakura sat up in her place, causing Sarada to yell "mama" once again, climbing into her lap and giving her a hug.
"Mama, birfday…"
Sakura laughed, nodding, while Sasuke rolled his eyes and watched them. "She really did know, huh?"
"I guess so. Thank you, Sarada!" lifting her up, Sakura gave Sarada a kiss on the cheek, making her giggle before she yawned and started rubbing her eyes, signaling she was finally tired again. "Oh, I guess someone's ready to go back to sleep!"
"No…" Sarada whined a bit, as Sakura held her close, kissing the top of her tiny head and rocking her a bit.
"Yes, sweetie. Go back to sleep!"
Sasuke just watched, smiling as he reached down next to their bed and picked up a medium size box, making Sakura look at him.
"What's that?"
"Your gift."
"What?"
Taking Sarada from his wife, Sasuke nodded and handed the box to her, keeping their almost asleep twenty-month-old against him, lifting her up to his shoulder so she could rest her head there as she fell asleep.
"Wait, wait, you got me a kitten?"
The surprised look on Sakura's face was enough to make Sasuke want to laugh, but he kept himself from doing so because of Sarada. The pink haired woman was so surprised she hadn't taken the black kitten out of the box, just staring at it even though it was trying it's hardest to jump out and latch it's claws onto her pajama sleeve.
The kitten meowed, and Sasuke finally said "Take him out of the box already, Sakura. He's anxious."
The shock of seeing the kitten finally wore off and Sakura shook her head, picking up the kitten and holding him against her, petting his head as he purred and pushed his head into her hand.
"Why did you get me a kitten?"
"Well…" Sasuke shrugged, looking at Sakura as she stared at the cat in her arms. "I don't know. I guess… since Sarada's still so young and we wanted to wait a while before having another child, I figured you and her could use a companion when I'm on missions. In fact," he looked from his wife to his fast asleep daughter and smiled. "Sarada picked him out. I took her to see someone that had a littler of them, and she liked this one the best. His name is Scorch, but you can change it."
"Sasuke-kun," Sakura smiled and leaned over, quickly kissing on the cheek. "Thank you! I love you!"
"You're welcome," Sasuke smiled as well as he gave her a small kiss on the forehead. "I love you too, Sakura."
+!+
"Happy birthday, mama!" two-year-old Sarada gave her mother a tight hug, kissing her cheek and handing her a paper that was rolled up and tied closed with a piece of red ribbon. It made Sakura laugh and hug her back, taking the gift and letting Sarada sit in her lap.
"Thank you, darling! Ah, should I open this now, or wait until papa calls us?"
"Now, mama!" Sarada looked back at her mama with a pout. "Now!"
"Okay, okay!" laughing, Sakura took the small present and pulled the ribbon off it, unrolling the piece of paper and smiling at what it was. "Aw, Sarada."
"Look, look," pointing the drawing she had made, Sarada listed the people that were on it. "Mama, me, papa, uncle Naruto, aunt Hinata, Bolt, and Himawari! Oh, and Scorch, too."
The scribbled, somewhat messy picture was too cute for words. Everyone was together and smiling, and it was obvious who was who even though each person was just a stick figure with colored hair, minus their cat who was mostly a blob of black with bright orange eyes.
"Well thank you, Sarada," Sakura hugged her close and kissed the toddler's head, making her giggle as a sound came from the laptop.
Right on time.
"Papa!" Sarada reached out and touched the spot on the screen she had learned was where mama would pick up calls from papa, and Sasuke was on the screen in just a few seconds. "Hi, papa!"
"Ah, hello, Sarada. Sakura. How are you two?"
"We're fine, don't worry, Sasuke-kun," Sakura giggled as Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You should see what Sarada gave me for my birthday."
Nodding, Sarada took the paper from Sakura and held it up. "See, papa! It's us, uncle Naruto, aunt Hinata, Bolt, Himawari, and Scorch!"
Looking at the hand drawn picture, Sasuke nodded and smiled, complementing his daughter's "art skills" as Sakura tried not to laugh.
Sarada wasn't terrible at drawing, but she wasn't the best either. Sarada knew that, and knew that Sasuke only told her she was good to make her happy, but she was perfectly all right with that (she, also, only knew this because she asked Sakura and her mama told her it was because her papa loved her and wanted her to be happy).
"It's very good, Sarada. Hey, will you get that thing I gave you before I left the other day?"
Blinking, Sarada suddenly said "oh!" when she remembered, jumping off Sakura's lap and running to her room, while Sakura looked at Sasuke with a raised eyebrow.
"What on earth did you give our daughter?"
"Something…" Sasuke smirked as Sakura shook her head, but it turned back into a real smile the moment Sarada ran back into the room, climbing back into Sakura's lap and giving her a wrapped up box, almost like the one Sasuke had given her three years ago when they were first married, only it was much larger and heavier. "Ah, there we are. Happy birthday, Sakura."
"Well, thank you, Sasuke-kun," Sakura smiled as she unwrapped the package, finding that the gift her husband had picked in advance was a medical book she had been waiting to get until it had gone on sale. "How did you afford this?"
"It was on sale when I went by the bookstore the other day," Sasuke kept smiling as Sakura flipped through the book, obviously surprised and happy. "It was the last copy."
"That's why it was gone when I went in with Sarada yesterday!"
"Mm-hm."
"Thanks, Sasuke-kun. I love you."
"You're welcome. I love you too."
"I love you too, papa!" Sarada shouted, smiling brightly, and making her parents laugh at her.
"I love you as well, Sarada."
+!+
"Come on, Sarada," Sasuke whispered to his three-year-old daughter and picked her up out of her bed, kissing the top of her as she rubbed her eyes and buried her face in his shoulder. Stepping over their cat that was fast asleep on the stairs, Sasuke carried Sarada down to the kitchen, setting her on the counter right when she was beginning to yawn and hug her stuffed dinosaur (originally his).
"Papa, it's early…"
"Yes, it is, but it's also your mama's birthday."
"Oh…" Sarada yawned again and rubbed her eyes once more, trying to wake herself up. "What are we doing?"
"We're gonna make mama breakfast in bed, all right?"
Nodding, Sarada watched Sasuke as he got their supplies together, making her believe it was going to be a breakfast of either pancakes or waffles, with eggs and what looked like bacon. While he got started, Sarada began to nod off where she was, causing Sasuke to notice and smile, picking her up and letting her lay her head on his shoulder as she fell back asleep.
"You sleep, Sarada. I'll wake you up when it's time to give mama her breakfast."
+!+
"Happy birthday, mama!"
Sakura was woken up by Sasuke and Sarada saying "happy birthday" to her, Sarada climbing on their bed as Sasuke set a tray of food next to her on the bed, a gift in his hand.
"You guys made me breakfast?"
"Papa did!" smiling, Sarada sat in Sakura's lap and smiled brightly at her mama. "I slept."
"Ha, I can tell!" Sakura started trying to brush her fingers through her daughter's hair, earning an unhappy whine. "Your hair is such a mess, darling."
While Sarada told Sakura exactly what it was Sasuke had made for her, he took a seat right next to his wife, passing her the gift he had in his hands.
"Happy birthday, Sakura."
Sakura looked at the present, wanting to open it but deciding to set it aside for now, making Sasuke look at her with a confused look.
"You don't want to open it?"
"Not right now," smiling, Sakura grabbed a hold of Sasuke's hand and leaned against his shoulder. "I just want to enjoy my family right now… I'll open it later."
"Mm… I love you, Sakura."
"I love you too, Sasuke-kun."
"Love you, mama." Sarada turned around and hugged Sakura tightly, while Sasuke gave her a kiss.
"I love you too, Sarada."
Yup. This is my favorite day of the year…
Author's Note: Happy birthday to Sakura, my favorite character in all of Naruto! I had to write this because the idea popped into my head and this is the first birthday of hers where SasuSaku is canon.
I hope you guys liked this and I plan to update my other fanfics soon.