Chapter 19
It was a quiet day as he sat with his daughter standing on his knees as she happily wiggled away to whatever music she had going on in her head. He just enjoyed having her hold tightly onto his hand as she giggled and enjoyed her day. Sasuke just smiled slightly as he sat there alert for potential threats. The sound of a hawk had him looking up. Sarada laughed and he lifted her up onto his hip as he followed the hawk. It was a messenger hawk, he knew that without even looking at the carrier on it's back and he carefully set Sarada down and picked up the message before the bird took off again. Sasuke scooped up his daughter as they returned to the house.
Again he set her down and walked to the table to read the message, it was from Naruto but he didn't really expect it to be from someone else. Absently he kept an eye on his daughter as she hugged her favorite stuffed panda to her and wobbled about the sparsely furnished living area of their house while he sat at the kitchen table reading of the news from the village.
Naruto was extaticed about something Hinata had told him he couldn't tell anyone, and by writing him then he was telling the world his excitement. Sasuke was mildly shocked that the exciting news his friend babbled on about for three pages was just two words:
Hinata's Pregnant.
Well, good for him, Sasuke mused as he looked down to his daughter who was again wiggling to her mental music, he had no idea what she was attempting to do but she looked adorable and he just watched her for a moment. She was turning out to be quieter than her mother but other than that minor detail she was turning out to be exactly like Sakura. Which was a relief to him because he did not need a daughter with his family's charming personality. His family was not something to be proud of, however, he was very proud of his wife and daughter. With this in mind he then wondered if he and Sakura should work on having another child. Being an only child was lonely, even Sakura had admitted that much and she hadn't been an orphan.
It was a thought which he wondered about then he remembered what his wife had said about Sarada's genetic potential and decided against it. He didn't want his children to endure that kind of pain, besides having Sarada had been shock enough for him when he hadn't ever really been planning on having a child. True he had always said he intended to rebuild his clan but in truth he couldn't have cared less, and it also seemed to be a good enough reason to marry a certain annoying pink woman.
Then again, there was also the issue of she loved him and Kami knew he craved to be loved. Having Sakura around had probably put a lot of irrational feeling aside for him, if he didn't have her… well he dreaded to think about what he would be. A life without her and Sarada just seemed obsolete and painful in his eyes.
Sasuke quietly went about scribbling out a reply for the blonde dobe in his elegant scrawl and then noticed the messenger hawk outside on the railing of his house. Leaving Sarada for a moment he slipped the note into the carrier before returning to his wiggling daughter who giggled with her delight. Picking her up he went to the kitchen and pulled out tomatoes as a snack for himself and then gave Sarada one of those sweets she loved. Honestly if she lost all of her teeth before she was five he was blaming her mother for the sweet tooth.
Seriously!
What baby had a sweet tooth like Sakura's!?
He didn't know but he didn't want to know as he and his daughter settled in the living area, he with a book and she in his lap with her panda as they relaxed. He enjoyed the times like this where he and Sarada could simply sit and enjoy the peace. According to Naruto all of the babies there (especially his own blonde baby) were all energetic nightmares. Honestly Sasuke could say he didn't care all that much, but he was relieved Sarada was a quiet and easy baby.
Softly he read aloud to her, it was one of his favorite stories, a mystery war story and Sarada sat there staring at his book with the utmost fascination and she appeared to be listening intently. He censored the gory parts but other than that he read it straight to her; swearing and all because she was going to hear it eventually. Sarada was an enthusiastic audience until she was sound asleep hugging her panda and he just smiled. Silently he continued reading as his daughter slept on his chest.
He had to admit he could see the great appeal of having a family when he had Sarada here like this and her mother would be home sometime in the next day or two. Never in his life had he felt this content, ever. Not even when he had been a child trailing around after his father and seeking his father's approval. Not that he had ever obtained his father's approval but he had a feeling his mother would be very proud of him. Same with Itachi.
Smiling a bit he yawned, he'd just set the book down for a moment. Just a moment, and he'd rest his eyes, then he'd continue with his reading. It was difficult to sleep in the bed when Sakura wasn't home for him to hold. He loved holding her in his sleep, it made him feel content, and like he had accomplished something good in his miserable life. Gently he covered the sleeping Sarada with his book and hand as he dozed off momentarily. He'd get up in a moment, after all, it was only sunset, there was plenty to do tonight after he put Sarada down to bed.
Like practice…
Sakura came home the following afternoon and walked silently into her house to find her husband and daughter sound asleep, together, on the couch. She grinned as she silently approached the sleeping duo, Sarada's eyes were open and stared at her as she looked them over. They were so cute! She just wanted to kiss her husband, but she always wanted to laugh that Sarada's pillow was her papa, and her blanket was her papa's book, which was rested like a tent on her back. It was just too adorable. Carefully Sakura maneuvered Sarada out of her father's hand and book before sneaking her daughter off for a quick change.
Once that was done she held a happy Sarada on her hip and grin.
"Hi baby, did you miss mama?" she whispered hoping not to wake Sasuke just yet. He was going to have a horrid creek in his neck with his head using the arm of the couch as a pillow but she didn't mind as she set Sarada down. Pressing her finger to her lips her daughter grinned with glee as Sakura crept over to the couch.
Before Sasuke could react she gave him a big sloppy kiss which had him bolting up looking terrified and confused and she fell to the floor with her daughter as the two of them laughed. Sarada was laughing because she was laughing but she was laughing as Sasuke's face as he turned his scowl on and glared at her with those dark eyes. She was laughing hysterically now, that had been too easy! She loved it and he yanked her up.
"That was not a kiss," he informed her roughly. She was still giggling as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
"Oh, and what's a kiss like. It's been a terribly long week and I think I've forgotten," she teased but only for a moment did she see that devilish glint in those black eyes. And then she found herself slammed into the floor and his mouth on hers. She gasped as she tangled her fingers in his heavy black hair and hung on for a moment as again he stole her breath away from her. Sakura was panting for breath when her husband pulled away from her.
"That's a kiss," he informed her smugly, she was again laughing as he pulled away from her and started stretching.
"What time is it?" he asked her as their daughter hurried over to his lap and fell onto her papa with a grin. Sasuke helped her right herself so she could be sitting on his lap again.
"Afternoon," he looked shocked, Sarada was giggling and Sakura got to her feet again as she walked to the kitchen. "I'll make tomato soup for lunch, it's going to start raining here tonight. At least that what the old weather man is saying since he's saying his knee's hurting him. Also, I think it might be fun if the week after next we all go out, we haven't been doing family outings lately."
She knew she was babbling but she was so insanely happy to be home after the shitty week she had had, she didn't like their mission anymore and was tired of having to leave her daughter and her husband for a week at a time. Sakura liked being with her family, and she really loved how close he and Sarada seemed to be. Turning around she was startled to see her husband holding their daughter and their daughter's panda behind her. Before she knew it he had a soft kiss pressed against hers.
"Sakura," he greeted her finally and she smiled.
"Hey Sasuke," she grinned and then she started making dinner as she started relaying everything that had happened this past week to her husband. He didn't say much; ever, but he was such an excellent listener and she loved it. It felt like she was unloading a burden as she told him everything she had been feeling as she tracked the Sharingan user; who had massacred a village. She had spent two days helping survivors and holding the hands of the dying that she just ached and wanted to be with her husband and daughter.
He didn't comfort her much as they ate, but she felt much better now that she had told him everything and was now reading Naruto's letter which Sasuke said was something she should read. Her heart swelled with joy at the news of Hinata's second pregnancy and wondered if she should talk with Sasuke about having another baby. She had always wanted a big family, perhaps this was the perfect ice breaker to bring the matter up with him.
After they put Sarada to sleep they went to their room and Sasuke tackled her to the bed.
"What's this!?" she gasped after a he had her pinned to their bed. There was a mischievous smile on his lips which had her smiling in return as he lowered his lips to her. She just melted to him as he released her pinned wrists and she wrapped her arms around him. She could never get over how much she loved him and at one point she had hated loving him because it hurt.
However now she couldn't think of a better person to love if her life depended on it. His lips left hers' as they trailed over her jawline to her pulse. Her fingers slid up under his shirt and carefully slid over the planes of muscles she knew so well. Hell, she had memorized his body long ago and knew everywhere he liked being touched. She loved being able to arouse him with merely a touch.
She gasped as his teeth gently scraped over her skin and they slowly went about pulling off clothes. Sakura loved it when he took it slow because she felt the most cherished when he did. Sasuke's mouth was on hers' again as their clothes lay on the ground discarded and she just moaned at his touch. Kami how she'd missed this and him over the week.
"I love you," she whispered when he pulled away for a moment. Then he deepened the kiss again and she smiled knowing she'd never hear the words from him in return. But it would never stop her from telling him every day that she loved him because she couldn't stand the thought that he didn't know the truth behind her words when he had been lied to so many times before.
"I love you."
