Chapter Six: A Peaceful Time
"Mama, papa, are you both going to be able to attend my ninja academy entrance ceremony tomorrow?" asked seven year-old Sarada as she stood in front of the kitchen doorway, her hands behind her back, and tilting back and forth on her feet, the red ribbon in her hair flowing along with her movements. It was starting to get dark outside and Sakura and I were sitting at the kitchen table next to each other, discussing where I was going to travel to when I left on my next journey when she came in. We both looked up from the map that was laid out on the table.
"Of course Sarada! I wouldn't miss it for the world!" beamed Sakura. Sarada gently smiled at her then turned to look at me.
"Papa, are you coming tomorrow too?" She asked, eyeing the map on the table. Sakura kicked me underneath the table. I shot her a look then looked back at Sarada.
"Hn. I'll be there Sarada." I said to her. She cocked an eyebrow at me.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure of it."
"Okay." satisfied, Sarada turned on her heel and made her way towards her room. Once I heard the door shut, I looked back at Sakura.
"Why'd you kick me underneath the table for?" I asked her. She shrugged her shoulders.
"I was just wanting to make sure you were going to say yes and not no. You know how much this means to her and you know she wants the both of us there to see her. She doesn't get to see you much.. and neither do I." She sighed sadly and looked back down at the map, her hair falling down over her face as her pin fell off her hair and on to the table. "I just don't like to see you leave all the time because I never know if you're going to come back again or not. I'm just afraid that one day, you won't ever come back to me." She said, her voice slightly breaking, a small tear streamed down her face and on to the map.
I reached my hand out to her face and turned her head so she was facing me. Her face was starting to get red and puffy around her eyes from where she had started crying. I grabbed her green pin from the table and pinned it back in her pink hair. Then, I wiped the tears that were streaming down her face off. I smiled at her as she smiled back at me. I reached my hand back up to her face and tapped her gently on the forehead with two of my fingers.
"Why do you do that?" She asked, grabbing my hand before I had a chance to put it back down and holding it with hers.
"It's to show you I love you." I said. She blushed a little and giggled. She then turned back to look at the map and her smile vanished. I know she never liked seeing me go off on any of my journeys. When she would see me off, she'd do it with a smile, but I knew that behind that smile, was a sad, tearful Sakura, wanting to run after me and hold me, begging me not to go. I was usually gone only a couple of weeks, but sometimes I wouldn't come back for months at a time. All of this had taken a toll on her.
I sighed, reaching over to the map and folding it in halves. I tucked it into the purple bag that was hanging on the back of the chair, one I always carried around with me. When I turned back around, Sakura looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Sasuke, you still haven't chosen where you're going to go to next." She said to me. I nodded my head back at her, smirking.
"I know. I just decided that I'll postpone the next journey for about a couple more weeks." Her eyes got big and she looked at me shocked before she smiled from ear to ear, squealed, and lunged at me from her chair to hug me. My chair was knocked over and we both fell back on to the floor. I was laying flat on my back and Sakura was on top of me.
"Oops. Sorry Sasuke." She meekly said, blushing.
"Hn." I said. I reached for the back of her head down towards me and I lifted my face up towards her's so we were now both closely face to face. I tilted her head down more 'till I felt her sweet lips on mine. I moved my hand from the back of her head down to the middle of her back and wrapped it around her in an embrace. She did the same. We continued to kiss for 'till we heard someone clearing their throat. We both looked up and saw that it was Sarada glaring down at us in disgust with her arms crossed.
"Cha! Mama, papa, get a room! I'm pretty sure you have one." She said as she continued to glare down at us. Sakura blushed once more and quickly jumped off of me and helped me stand back up.
"Sarada, sweetie, we just got a little excited. That was all." She said as she nervously laughed.
"Excited? About what?" Sarada asked. I stepped forward.
"I decided to postpone my trip for a few weeks so I can spend more time with you and your mother." I said, looking at Sakura and gently smiling back at her.
"Really?" She asked with a surprised look on her face.
"Really." I said, nodding my head.
"Cha! That's great!" She yelled as she ran towards me and Sakura, hugging us both. Sakura looked up at me and mouthed the words "Thank you." I nodded my head back at her.
"Mama, papa?" Sarada said, looking up at us.
"Yes sweetie?" asked Sakura.
"I want to be a big sister." Me and Sakura both sweat dropped and our faces turned bright red.
"Congratulations to everyone!" Naruto boasted from the stand in his Hokage attire to the upcoming new students at the academy. Sakura and I stood amongst the other parents watching their children. I glanced around the crowd of new students and managed to find Sarada standing near the front alongside with who seemed to be Boruto, Naruto's son.
"I hope each and everyone of you strive to be the best shinobis' this world has ever seen and if you have a dream, don't ever stop chasing it 'till it comes true! Believe it!" Once he was done, all of the parents and the students applauded. The adults then all spread out in different directions to go find their children and meet their future sensei's. Sarada found us before we did and she had Boruto with her.
"Hey Uncle Sasuke! Hey Aunt Sakura!" shouted Boruto with excitement when he saw us. Of course we weren't exactly his biological uncle and aunt, but he did consider us as part of his family just like Naruto did. "How have you both been?" He fist bumped me and hugged Sakura.
"Why, hi Boruto! How nice to see you again! Your father did a really great speech." Sakura complemented him. He crossed his arms and shrugged his shoulders, a scowl on his face.
" Yeah, I guess my old man's speech was okay." He said.
"Well this old man is going to want to have a talk with you later on today for what you did to the Hokage Monument when we get home." Naruto said from behind Boruto 'causing him to flinch and start sweating bullets. He, Hinata, and their youngest daughter, Himawari, had quietly walked up behind them to come and talk to us but he didn't say anything once Boruto spoke.
"Big brother is in trouble." Himawari said, holding Hinata's hand and pointing a finger at Boruto. He slowly turned his head to look up at his father, his eyes still wide with fear.
"Uh father! I-I- I was just joking around with them about your speech." Boruto stammered as he nervously laughed and rubbed the back of his head, the same way Naruto used to do, and still does, to this day. "Your speech was amazing dad! Truly! Believe it!" He finished, grinning up at him. Naruto of course can never stay mad at his children for no longer than five seconds and smiled back down at Naruto and patted his head.
"Thank you Boruto!" He said before he looked up at us. "Hey Sasuke and Sakura! How's everything been going on at home?"
"Everything is going well, thank you Naruto." Sakura said with a smile.
"That's great! When will you be leaving on your next trip Sasuke?" He asked me.
"I've actually decided to postpone my trip for a few more weeks. Right now I was to spend more time with my family." I said, looking at Sakura and Sarada. Sakura smiled at me and leaned against me, holding my hand and Sarada looked up at me, smiling.
"Oh really? That's great! You guys should come up and see us sometime! We could all go out to the park with the children or we could train! I think I'm starting to get a little rusty, you know haha! Oh, we could also go out for some ramen! My treat!" Naruto beamed at us.
"Thanks! We'll see when we can come up on a day when we and you are not to busy." I said.
"Alright! You know, we'll probably be seeing each other a whole lot more now that Sarada and Boruto are now classmates. And who know's, maybe they'll be something more when they get older." He grinned sheepishly at us. Sarada and Boruto both looked up at him with confused looks, wondering what he meant by that. My eye twitched.
"Don't you even think about it!" I said inside my head.
"Yeah, haha! Maybe." Sakura nervously laughed.
"Well, we'll see you both around, alright?" Naruto said as he took Hinata's hand and turned around to start walking back home with them.
"Hn. See you." I said, waving at them.
"What did the seventh mean by that?" Sarada asked us as she walked hand in hand with us back towards our home.
"I don't know. He's an idiot." I said.
"So is Boruto." Sarada replied and I smirked. Like father, like son.
After walking for a while, Sarada spoke again.
"Mama, papa?" She said and Sakura and I both looked at her.
"Thank you again for coming today and.. thank you for everything. I love you." She said, looking up at the both of us.
We both love you as well Sarada." Sakura said, giving Sarada's hand a small squeeze. I smiled at both of them. I thought back when I was younger, I had my mother's love, and I strived to do so much to have my father just tell me "That's my boy." I remember when Itachi would poke me on the forehead with his two fingers, a sign that meant he loved and cared about me. I thought back when I gave Sakura her ribbon back when it had floated off her hair when she had been watching me at school. I remember her smile when she held the ribbon up to her chest, the same smile I saw on her when I pinned the cherry blossom to her hair before I left on my first journey. It took me so long to realize that after all the pain I had put her and Naruto through, she never once stopped loving me. And Naruto, who knew how much Sakura loved me, never stopped 'till he finally managed to bring me back to Konohoa to her, the promise he had made to her after I had left.
I've had made so many decisions, and out of all them, coming back to Konohoa and letting myself fall in love with Sakura once more, were one of the greatest decisions I have ever made. And out of that love, we both conceived Sarada, who I knew was going to grow up to be a great shinobi. She was going to be amazing, just like her mother and me.
I looked at Sakura and Sarada who were both laughing about something I hadn't paid attention to listen to and smiled at them. I loved them both so much. I looked out and noticed the sun was just now starting to set, signaling the near end of another wonderful day. All was now well.
Well everyone, this is the end of Sasuke's Decision. Thank you all so much for those who have read this story. And if you're going to ask for a sequel, well I haven't exactly thought about writing a sequel to this but there is a chance there probably will be one. And again, thank you! Please don't forget to Favorite and Review!