Sakura woke up to her baby crying. She was in another room, in a clean bed, and above ground. Sasuke must have carried her to a motel. He had changed her clothes as well. She wore a clean night gown and underwear from her pack. Her baby was wrapped in the yellow blanket that Sakura brought with her for after the birth. She picked up the baby and placed her to her breast to quiet her down.
Sasuke was standing with his back to them by a window. He was only half dressed himself. His jacket and shirt were gone, bloody from carrying Sakura from the hideout right after she gave birth. He turned around and looked at her with the baby. As usual, his face was expressionless. He said, "I'm taking you and your baby back to Konoha as soon as you're strong enough."
"I'm not going back, if you're not coming back too." Sakura said, looking down at their daughter. "We will stay with you from now on."
"That's not an option." Sasuke said coldly.
"Have you held your daughter yet?" Sakura asked, ignoring him. She had not missed Sasuke's reference to the baby as only her baby.
Something akin to fear passed through Sasuke's black eyes. "It's better if I don't."
"Why didn't you come back Sasuke?" Sakura asked now. "Why didn't you respond to any of Naruto's or my letters about our baby?"
Sasuke turned away again, staring back out the window. He mumbled, "I did come back."
"When? Naruto never…"
"He didn't know. No one knew." Sasuke interrupted.
Sakura remembered all of her recent strange dreams. And the intense feeling of someone watching her. She thought it was living among all those abandoned houses that was playing tricks on her mind. "You were watching me? Weren't you? And those weren't dreams… you were putting me in genjutsu."
Sasuke did not reply.
Sakura did not even bother to ask why. She just said, "It's time to hold your daughter."
She held the baby out to him. Sasuke did not turn around. "I've never held a baby. I might drop her. You shouldn't offer your baby to me."
Sakura did not move. She continued to hold the baby out. Finally, Sasuke turned around, seeming perturbed. "What did I…"
As he encountered the fiercely determined look in Sakura's green eyes, he broke off.
Sasuke hesitantly moved towards the child, and then, he let Sakura place the baby in his arms. He held her awkwardly as if she would break at any moment. Sakura could see an overwhelmed look spreading across his impassive face.
"What is her name?" Sakura asked him, not offering to take the baby back.
Sasuke looked up at Sakura. "You haven't named her yet?"
"No." Sakura shook her head, firmly. "You should name her."
Sasuke looked down at the baby in his arms. The baby yawned and started to mew. She tossed off part of her blanket as she stretched out her little hands at him. He moved his right hand to wrap the blanket again, and she grasped hold of one his fingers. Sasuke's eyes softened and he said, "Her name will be Sarada then –Sarada Uchiha."
"Ok." Sakura reached out to take her baby back from Sasuke. But Sasuke moved away, keeping the baby with him. Sakura smiled. She lay back down in the bed and watched them together. Feeling somewhat content for the first time since her wedding night, she felt her eyes get heavy again and she quickly fell asleep.
When she woke again, Sarada was lying wrapped in the blanket next her. She felt Sasuke's arm draped over her waist and his breath at the back of her neck as he lay against her. Sarada made a little crying sound, her face becoming red with anger.
Sakura moved the baby to her breast, careful to keep from disturbing Sasuke. But he was not asleep. So he sat up with Sakura, kissing her on the forehead as she fed the baby.
When she was done, Sasuke took Sarada from Sakura, kissing her little forehead as well. He looked at his wife and said, "After you feel stronger, you and Sarada will travel with me to the Land of Earth. There is a possible tip there about Hinata."
"Hinata may be alive?" Sakura asked, excitedly, sitting up straighter in the bed.
"I don't know. I was told there was a ninja there who is telling a story about a female rogue shinobi." Sasuke replied, playing with Sarada's hands with his fingers. "It may be nothing. But it's the most I've found so far."
Sakura leaned forward and kissed Sasuke on the cheek. "Thank you for letting us come with you."
Sasuke turned his face towards Sakura's face, kissing her on the lips. Sakura lingered in his kiss.