Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.
Chapter 11: Daddy.
Sakura said goodbye to her parents with a tight hug and went back into the kitchen to take the plates with leftover cake from the table. She smiled toward the living room where the children played on the big rug on the floor with a few adults around, spread out on the couches and armchairs. After the party was almost over and only the closest friends were around she realized that Sarada was more at ease than before when the house was full.
The four-year birthday party had been uneventful and Sakura was glad to see Sarada happy. She found very strange that Sarada did not even ask about Sasuke's absence, but she decided that she would not be the first to mention the name of the man.
"Dad." Sarada's sweet voice echoed through the house and Sakura felt the small porcelain dish slip between her fingers, scattering pieces of porcelain everywhere, the sound of shards on the wooden floor accompanied the happy shout of the girl who threw the arms around Kakashi as she called him so affectionately.
Sakura left the mess behind while walking toward the living room, the feet making little noise on the wooden floor, and she was feeling restless every second that passed, due to the absolute silence that invaded the house after the innocent declaration of Sarada. When she looked at the faces of her friends who were looking between Sarada, Kakashi and her, with surprised faces and arched eyebrows, she felt an involuntary sigh escaping her lips.
"Dad is tired of being a horse, Sara-chan." Sakura stated, taking the happy girl off Kakashi's back who gave a grateful smile beneath the mask. They did a good job ignoring the stunned look that was now stamped on everyone's faces in the room, except Yamato and Sai. "Go play in the bedroom." Sakura placed the toys in the children's arms and gently pushed them up the stairs.
"What the hell?" Naruto was the first to question when the children disappeared on the second floor.
Kakashi got to his feet and took away the imaginary dust from the clothes with a few light slaps. "Well..." He decided that plucking the band Aid at once might be a little painful but he knew the relief would come quicker. "Sakura and I are together." He said seriously as he wrapped a arm around her waist, bringing the woman close to him, where he wanted her to stay forever. "In a relationship." He added belatedly.
Naruto got up off the couch abruptly, ignoring Hinata who was trying to keep him calm. "Since when?" He asked incredulously. "Sasuke barely left the village and for God's sake you have a daughter together." He screamed as he looked at Sakura and ran a hand over his face in exasperation. "He's on a mission to protect the village and you two are-"
"I would choose my next words carefully if I were in your place, Naruto." Kakashi said in a deathly cold tone, making the room temperature drop a few degrees.
Sakura saw Naruto swallow hard the words he was ready to say and she almost laughed the way Kakashi might be terrifying when he wanted to be.
With a slow sigh, she stared at the noisy best friend. "Sasuke is not here, Naruto." Sakura stared at him, challenging him to interrupt her. "And it's not because of a mission, he's not here simply because he doesn't want to be."
"That's cruel Sakura-chan." Naruto murmured. "Sasuke is protecting the village from the outside. I will be Hokage in a few months, he will be my right arm, he promised-"
"He promised to support you." Sakura interrupted him and this time her voice had an angry tone. "I understand that he will die to fulfill the promise he made you on that damn day where you almost killed each other." She took a step toward him. "Sasuke doesn't do this for me or for Sarada. He does it for you." She tapped a finger on his chest as she took another step closer. "He has promised to be your right arm, to help you protect the village where you can't be, for some sense of duty he owes to the acts he has committed before." She did not realize that the tone of voice was increasing with each word. "But he didn't promise me anything, Naruto. And I didn't promise him anything back."
"Sakura-chan, I know that you-" Naruto gasped.
"No. You don't know anything." She screamed. "He thinks of you as the only family he has ever had. Do you know how many times I've heard him say that you were the only family he had after losing his clan, his parents, and Itachi?" She asked almost breathlessly. "Even after Sarada's birth, he still repeated that damn sentence." She took a deep breath. "I gave everything I had for him, Naruto. It was not enough." She said in a low voice. "So don't look for me like I'm cheating on Sasuke because I asked him to stay." She spread the arms and pointed around. "He's not here, is he?" She asked sarcastically.
Naruto looked at Sakura for a few seconds and realized he did not know anything about what she really felt about Sasuke's absence and he felt horrible for never having asked her about it. He felt a lump in his throat to see how upset she was and when he looked at Kakashi and saw a threatening look in his ex-sensei's eyes, he swallowed hard to realize that he had hurt Sakura by judging her for something he obviously did not know and did not even bother to try to know. He stared at the floor feeling that he'd been a terrible friend to her in the last years, thinking that because she was with Sasuke, even though he was not around most of the time, it was enough to make her happy. He hated himself for being wrong.
"They were together before Sasuke returned to Konoha." Ino's voice broke the embarrassing silence that had fallen after the explosion of Sakura and Naruto.
"I knew it." Temari shouted almost cheerfully as she tapped Shikamaru's chest with the back of her hands. "I told you." She smiled slyly.
"You were right." Shikamaru said lazily, knowing exactly what his wife wanted to hear. "You know when that comes out it's going to be very troublesome, do not you?!" He asked rhetorically, staring at Sakura and Kakashi.
"Let's worry when the time comes." Kakashi answered nonchalantly.
"Typical." Shikamaru muttered.
"I'm so sorry." Naruto rubbed the neck nervously and stared at Sakura and Kakashi with obvious guilt in his blue eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asked in an almost hurt tone.
"Because I knew what your reaction would be." Sakura said with folded arms and a scowl.
"At least I didn't disappoint." He said with a smile, happy to make her smile back. "Come here." He pulled Sakura into a tight hug. "I just want you to be happy, all of you." He said sincerely as he stroked her hair, ignoring the narrowing eyes of Kakashi and Hinata who were piercing holes in him.
"Is not he very old?" Kiba asked with a provocative smile.
"Kakashi-sama is in the prime of the springtime of youth." Lee replied, ignoring Kakashi's groan because of the honorific. "Sakura-san will be even more radiant now."
"Let this guy see the bright side of everything." Tenten sneered, pointing to her smiling husband. "I think you two match." She smiled at Sakura. "Sasuke is a little cold for you, Sakura-chan." .
"Kakashi-san is cold too." Shino grunted from the corner of the room, startling Choji that he placed a hand on the chest and grunted about not realizing that he had been there all this time.
Ino ignored the clowning around and walked over to Sakura, giving her an overwhelming hug, surprising her friend. "I want you to be happy." She let go and looked into Sakura's green eyes. "Promise me you'll be happy now." She said in a pleading tone, deciding to support Sakura at least once more.
Sakura nodded with a silly smile, hugging Ino again, happy to have her best friend's support again.
"I'll want all the juicy details later." Ino whispered as Sakura released her. "How does he look under the mask?" She said loudly and made a suggestive motion with the eyebrows, causing Sakura and the other women to laugh.
"Shit!" Naruto shouted. "You won the damn bet."
"Hokage-sama." Kakashi felt involuntary shivers run down his spine and slowly lifted the head slowly, in time to see Sakura locking the door behind her and making some hand seals that he recognized as sound barriers. He swallowed the saliva that had gathered in his mouth with some difficulty, when he saw her walking slowly toward him, like a feline prepared for a deadly hunt. He felt like a prey, but even against all the instinct that was shouting for him to run, he stood still looking at her.
"My lovely assistant and most efficient medic-nin in all the five nations. How can I be helpful?" He asked trying to look casual as usual, but he feared that he was failing miserably.
"Oh." Sakura circled the large table that separated them. "I can think about a lot of things you can do for me." Sakura said in a low tone as she massaged his shoulders. "Hokage-sama." She whispered in his ear and did not lose the way he shivered.
"Damn, Sakura." He moaned.
She smiled triumphantly, content to get the effect she wanted. "You're almost giving the mantle to Naruto." She said as she sat on his lap. "Before that happens I want to do some things in this office."
"In this office?" He echoed her statement in a questioning tone as he squeezed her hips in a not very gentle manner. "At this table, maybe?" He said in a hoarse voice and picked her up in a fast movement, deciding to abandon the prey position and take on the hunter's posture, setting her down on the table, ignoring the papers and scrolls falling in the floor. "Like this?" He whispered hoarsely in her lips.
"Just like that, Daddy." She responded in a desperate tone as she circled his hips with her legs, bringing him close, arching her back with the abrupt contact and smiling when he groaned audibly.
"What was this?" He questioned as he spread kisses down her neck, getting lost in the wonderful scent she emanated.
"Did you like it?" She undid the buttons of the green vest he wore over the tight shirt. "Do you remember where that comes from?" She bit his throat when his vest, blouse and mask disappeared somewhere on the office floor.
"Icha Icha Tatics." He answered breathlessly, pulling out her shorts, impatiently. "Chapter Six."
"Seven." She snapped back and got lost in the way he caressed all her body. "Daddy." She lay down on the table, closing the eyes tightly while she lost herself in his touch.
Kakashi stared at the woman in front of him, the face blushed, the pink hair scattered across the wooden table and the perfect, shapely body exposed before him. At that moment he felt his heart speed up more than it was considered normal. Kakashi wondered what he had done in his life to deserve someone like her. He shook off these thoughts knowing very well he did not deserve her, but he was grateful to have her and he decided that she would be his, while he breathed. "You're very naughty." He held her hands behind her back, embarking on the fantasy she had begun.
"I was a bad girl?" She whispered.
He almost gave up on the game when he heard she say that sentence with those innocent green eyes staring at him in fear. But he knew better than appearances. Sakura was a good actress and in the last few months he had discovered that she had a perverse pleasure in catching him by surprise in some scene from one of his favorite books. He fought bravely to keep the posture before that woman who would surely be his death one day. "Do you know what Daddy does with bad girls?"
She nodded with a terrified look and looked away from his dark eyes. "Punishment?"
Kakashi smiled wickedly and almost laughed in victory when she shuddered. He suspected she was enjoying it more than he did, but he knew she would never admit it out loud. "Yes." He clasped her hands with chakra strings and whispered in her ear. "Daddy will punish you now, baby."
It was a lovely Sunday morning and he drank the delicious, bitter tea she had served in the same navy blue mug he wore when he went to her apartment a few years ago. He wanted to ask why she had kept his mug when she was with Sasuke, but decided against it. He already knew the answer to that question anyway.
Sakura sat next to Sarada, serving breakfast for everyone and Kakashi never felt so happy as at that moment. He glanced at the messy bun she wore and the smudge of molasses that was gracing her cheek after Sarada's unsuccessful attempt to decorate the pancakes. "Marry me?" He asked as he stared at her, unable to take his eyes off her for a second.
He almost laughed as she dropped the fork and admired the wide green eyes, looking at him with obvious surprise and perhaps a little apprehension. "What?" When her voice finally came out, he realized that it was really apprehension that was in her eyes.
"Marry me, Sakura." He asked again with a smile as he took her hand.
"I ..." She exited and he felt the heart stop for a brief moment, he felt fear, fear of rejection and he hated the sensation. "Why do you want to marry me?" She asked in a low voice and he realized that she was unsure and that maybe it was not because of him. He felt his jaw clench at the thought that Sasuke might have spoiled the self-esteem of this incredible and wonderful woman.
"Because I love you." He took her other hand and kissed both of them, before holding her face. He decided he would abandon his own insecurities and fears to give her everything she deserved, because Sakura deserved to be loved and he would give her everything, even if she did not ask. "I love you, Sakura, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you and Sarada." He smiled at the girl who was smiling at them. "And with all the children I'll do in you, in the future."
"I'm not a baby-making machine." She screamed outraged and he laughed, accompanied by Sarada, who certainly was not understanding the context but laugh regardless.
"Is that a yes?" He insisted.
She nodded and before he could say anything she hugged him, pulling him close. "I love you Kakashi." She pulled away and smiled shyly. "And I would like to have your child. Maybe one." She smiled widely.
"Two." He grunted and took something from inside his waistcoat, placing it in her hand.
"What is it?" She asked before opening the hand and gasping when she saw a ring resting on the palm. "When did you get it?"
"It has been some time." He smiled and tore the ring from her hand, placing it on her ring finger.
Sakura knew he would never tell her since when he was planning to marry her or how long he had that ring. She did not mind that he had made the proposal with the same monotonous tone in which he talked about the weather. All that mattered was that he loved her and accepted her with all the defects and baggage she carried. She would love him back and would do anything to make him happy as long as he wanted to stay by her side.
Sakura looked around and sighed in defeat as she realized it was foolish to keep looking. "He did not come." Kakashi's voice made her turn to face him.
"It's the most important day of his life." She said sadly. "How could he not be here?" She asked rhetorically with a pang of irritation. "Did you send a scroll?"
Kakashi squeezed her shoulders gently. "I sent the scroll along with our wedding invitation."
"I bet he didn't read either." Shikamaru contributed wisely and Sakura wanted to yell at him, but did not, because deep down she knew it was a great possibility that Sasuke had not even read. "And Naruto is late." Shikamaru grunted.
"Why did you send to him an invitation from our wedding?" Sakura asked biting the lower lip.
Kakashi smiled, noticing her nervousness. "I'm marrying with the mother of his daughter, it's only fair that he knows." He said in the same monotonous, carefree tone he usually wore, and Sakura was grateful for it, because that tone that might have unnerved her endlessly on some occasions would also calm her when necessary.
She nodded. "He may not have read the invitation but a Hokage scroll is important, he should have read." She insisted. "Naruto will be named Hokage today, Sasuke should be here."
"Sasuke is not here?" Naruto's disappointed voice shrieked behind them.
Sakura opened the mouth to respond but was interrupted when Shikamaru jumped into Naruto yelling at him for the delay and saying that a Hokage could not be late for his own appointment, ignoring Naruto's protests about Kakashi being responsible for his delay and something about students learn from teachers.
She watched as Naruto was dragged to the Tower by Kakashi and when the people below clapped and shouted at the simple appearance of the war hero, Sakura decided that even if Sasuke was not there, Naruto would be the best Hokage that Konohagakure ever saw. Sasuke would be supporting him from a distance and Naruto had many people around, to help him to realizing the dream of a lifetime.
Note: I don't hate Sasuke, but I don't like SasuSaku. I just want to clarify that I only created the short relationship between him and Sakura because from the beginning I wanted Sarada to exist in this story. Sorry if I make Sasuke look like an idiot sometimes it's all my subconscious's fault.
