notes: revised (7/31/19)!
rating: K
disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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25. smile
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As the years pass, the seasons shifting in its forever cycle, Sasuke found himself softening up too much for his liking.
He'd take in the collection of rubble and dirt and broken pieces of their former home with a calmness that somewhat shakes at Sakura's nerves, but this, she begins to reason to herself, is Sasuke and Sasuke is always like that: neutral, so much in the gray area. Still, after she had accidentally demolished their home (his home, his family's home) from an outburst of an argument she had with Sarada and her long-missing husband finally returning to the village, Sakura had expected some kind of reaction from him as they stand in front of the destruction that no one had yet to clean up. Sasuke could see her fidget from his peripheral.
Granted, by all rights, it was originally his house and he was still technically the owner of it—he has every right to be angry with her for carelessly wrecking it to tiny pieces. Sakura knew how Sasuke functions; he likes to scowl, frown, click his tongue, give side-glances, scoff, and the like. He never shied away from letting people know his displeasure. So when all he does is quietly observe the nooks and crannies of all the rubble pieces and not uttering a single word to her, Sakura finds herself fairly concerned she might have crossed a line somewhere with him. She knew how he functions, yes, but whenever the subject of his family comes into perspective, it just seemed a bit too taboo for her to mention even if he had claimed his redemption trip had helped him come in terms with it. Half of it is true; the topic of his family may come up and it does indeed stir something painful in him, but he's a strong man. How could he live with it if he can't move on from it?
He'd told Sakura once, about them. He would tell her with wistful nostalgia that rips at his heart of how his father scolded him often for falling behind. He would tell Sakura about how warm his mother's hugs were and how she always liked to make his favorite foods for lunch. He would tell Sakura about how his brother was always supportive of his goals and dreams and teases Sasuke to no end when things were still good between them—he'd tell her of the forehead poking and while he never outright explained how important it was, she seemed to have understood it anyway from his stories. He liked that about Sakura: she likes to listen to him.
When news about their now-ruined home came up on the way back to Konoha, Sasuke couldn't help but blink at first. He didn't know what to feel about it at first—should he be mad? It was his parent's home for decades, part of the Uchiha estate for probably centuries when it was built. He had many memories there, things that he would like to bury but then dig back up and lock away for himself. Was he sad? Was he angry? Sasuke has to be able answer these.
"...Sasuke-kun?" he could faintly hear Sakura speak up after what felt like eons to him, and he's a little embarrassed that he'd been lost in his old memories while she was mildly concerned for him. "Are you okay?"
He feels himself taking a sharp inhale of breath. He nods instead, to answer her, and then adds, "Don't worry about it." He wasn't sure if he meant that about his well-being or about the house. He just wants her to know it's okay, whatever that reason was he had. "Did you salvage everything you wanted to keep?" He looks at the rubble again, thoughtlessly this time.
She follows his sight idly. "I think I found a few of our clothes scattered—some were from our rooms and some from the laundry I was airing out." Sakura is then contemplative. "Our dishes are ruined, though." No need to say anything about the furniture for obvious reasons. "I think Sarada... found some of the pictures we had."
Sasuke doesn't ask her how it happened, how the house became like this. He doesn't, also, ask about those pictures. "We should scour some more just in case. Then we can go." She had told him she picked out an apartment already with Sarada, and how they already have a few boxes of the salvaged items they brought back.
"We'll have to go shopping for a few more things we're missing," she pipes up in an afterthought. "It shouldn't take too long; we just need some bowls and plates and..." She stares ahead at nothing. "Maybe some picture frames. I'd like to frame some of the pictures we have."
Some were memorable pictures, Sasuke could remember. There was their wedding photo—she was clad in a stunning kimono and he, in his simple black, just seemed so plain next to her. She had complained that day about the massive decorations adorning her hair bun, but he remembered that it was a small celebration unlike Naruto and Hinata's thriving party, and he especially liked it when he whisked her away to see the blooming cherry blossoms that day. They didn't take pictures of that moment under the cherry blossom trees as Naruto was the one with the camera, but the sight of her sparkling eyes that day was a memorable enough picture to Sasuke. Other than that, there was their Team 7 photo together. That one picture would always be the anchor in Sasuke's heart to remind himself what matters and truly, his sentiment in it is thick and unwavering.
Sakura said pictures in plural form and Sasuke grew curious enough to wonder what other pictures she had took when he was away.
"Of course," he tells her, about the picture frame shopping, and she beams.
A few hours later after diligently plowing through the rubble and securing back two outfits of Sakura's, one from Sasuke, one of Sarada's accessories, Sakura's apron with cherry blossom prints, Sakura insists on carrying the aforementioned items back with her. He lets her despite wanting to object—her stubbornness is a thing to be reckoned with.
Before they can go retire for the night, Sarada hard at work in the kitchen (who else would provide food when both her parents were out trying to salvage things from their wrecked home?) pauses in her slicing of lettuce and leans slightly over the counter when she sees her mama step through the threshold. "Mama!" Quickly, Sarada carefully discards her knife and gestures a finger at the dinner table where a plain beige envelope sat. "Someone came by earlier and told me to give that to you. He said it was for an appointment you booked?"
An appointment? Sasuke wonders as he watches his wife gleefully tear the envelope apart to read the contents after she'd dumped their salvaged belongings on the couch.
Before he could do anything but walk three steps, Sakura comes over to tug at his sleeve. "Sasuke-kun! Make sure to get up early and dress nicely for tomorrow! I have a surprise!" His gaze lingers, bewildered, even when she turned to Sarada and says, "You too! Clean yourself nicely for tomorrow morning—no questions until tomorrow!" With that said, Sakura lets go of his sleeve and runs into the bedroom the apartment offered and both Sasuke and Sarada could hear rustling of clothes.
"Soup, Papa?" Sarada eventually offers, apparently used to her Mama's eccentricity by now.
"Ah."
By morning tomorrow, at the crack of nine o'clock, Sakura leads a tired Sarada and Sasuke through the streets. Given certain circumstances, all three of them were short of fancy clothes for whatever Sakura planned, so they all dressed in the usual outfits for themselves: Sakura in her nice red dress, Sarada in her somewhat matching red ensemble, and Sasuke in his vest and dark pants without the cloak that Sakura forbade him from bringing.
A lack of nice clothing doesn't seem to faze Sakura, so she brightly greets the same man who stopped by yesterday to the apartment when the Uchiha family reached a fairly simple building with a mahogany roof.
"This way, please!" the man tells them, politely guiding them into a room with a green backdrop and that was when Sasuke finally realizes the surprise Sakura planned the moment he saw a camera prepped in front of the backdrop. "So glad you all came prepared and clean! Saves us time—" He leans over with a hand near his face to feign whispering, just to get a rise out of the camera helper nearby. "—because some of our staff is grumpy today. Missed their morning coffee, ha!"
Sasuke didn't know how he was able to withstand fifteen minutes of bickering between the staff members, but eventually things went back on track and he found himself situated to Sarada's right and Sakura is at Sarada's left.
"Alright, will the happy family smile for the camera?" the camera helper asks, almost teasingly, as she readies the button.
Sakura smiled.
Sarada smiled.
Sasuke also smiled that day.