Chapter 38

"Mama!" Sarada exclaimed as she hopped onto the bed he set her on. The girl scrambled to her mother, her eyes turned red as her single tomoe Sharingan was activated with her happiness. He knew Sakura was startled at the sight of their daughter's eyes.

"Sarada!" Sakura gingerly lifted her arm up to wrap around Sarada and she sighed. Her baby was alright, it was a relief, her eyes looked to her husband then, his own eyes where whirling with his Sharingan. She sighed. "When did she get her Sharingan?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"The day she found you," he answered for her as he took a seat beside the bed and grabbed her free hand then.

"She found me?" Sakura whispered.

He nodded solemnly as he rubbed his thumb across the back of her knuckles.

"I'm sorry," she whispered and he looked startled then as he stared at her with wide eyes. She just tightened her hold on her daughter as she stared at him with wet eyes.

"There's nothing to apologize for," he informed her. Sakura blinked.

"I thought…" she trailed off.

"Annoying," he snapped as he pulled his hand from her grasp and poked her seal. "And you are never again using that! I do not care who is dying, you are not shortening your life anymore!"

"Huh?" she blinked and looked up at his dark furious eyes. Then she frowned. "I never told you about that because I knew you wouldn't care or would overreact."

"I. Do. Not. Care. You are not using it again! Or I'll kill you myself!" he snapped to her as he loomed over her and Sarada. She flinched a bit as she stared at the seriousness in his eyes and the coldness in them as well. She hadn't seen that look from him, directed at her, in the past years; at least not since before the war…

"Uh… Sasuke?" she tried to curl up, she winced a bit at the attempt to move and Sarada grumbled at her jostling about.

"You're not allowed to die," he snapped to her.

"I'm not dying?" she mumbled questioning as she held Sarada.

"Good," he growled and he sat again as he took her hand in his own as he examined her hand then. She twitched her fingers as he examined her palm then.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, whether for the miscarriage, the misunderstanding, or something well, she didn't know as she stared at him and held their daughter. He looked at her with blank eyes in confusion.

"Sakura," he closed his eyes. She flinched a bit, she was scared, but she was terrified of getting the boot right now or him telling her she was useless.

"It is pointless for you to die, do you not see that? Sarada needs you, I need you," he stated this bluntly as he stared at her with Sharingan eyes. She blinked as she lay there.

"I thought…." She trailed off.

"No." he answered and she felt her bottom lip quiver as she lay there. "You were not married to be just a breeder if that is your concern. You happen to be the only woman who does not annoy me."

"Huh?" she choked; caught between a laugh and a sob as she lay there. All these years and she knew he cared, but she didn't know just how much she meant to him. He didn't exactly broadcast his emotions or where people stood with him. All she had been certain of until this moment was she mattered in some way to him.

"You cannot die Sakura, no matter what," he murmured.

"Alright…" she mumbled and winced a bit as she lay there with her husband holding on hand tightly and the other arm wrapped around her daughter.

"Rest, you lost a lot of blood. We'll be here when you wake again," he murmured as her heavy eyes wavered and started closing. At least she still had them and her marriage wasn't ruined because of the miscarriage. She had been terrified of that happening, she didn't want to lose him after everything she had been through just to get him to even like her and not murder her on sight.

The moment she had said she was sorry he had been startled. He had been so scared of losing her and having her die he hadn't really thought about how she might see the miscarriage. And looking at that small pinkette hugging their daughter with guilt, fear, and sorrow in her eyes, he had just for a moment hated himself for again inflicting that look back into those emerald eyes. He hadn't had any intentions of casting her aside, but it appeared she feared just that as she lay there looking small, broken, defenseless and hugging their toddler.

What did she think he was going to do because she had miscarried?

Divorce her? Cast her aside? Yell at her? Kill her?

Sasuke hadn't known but he wasn't going to be mad at her for something that her body did naturally. He'd never harm her for that, or harm her for any reason for that matter. But he had seen her fear, seen her worries and her uncertainty.

Was he saddened at the loss of the child within her? Yes, but after the four days of hell he had endured with her unconscious he knew he would have broken down if he had lost her, the fear, sadness, desperation and so much grief that he couldn't lose her. There was a difference this time as to when she had nearly died with birthing Sarada, he didn't know how to explain it other than she seemed far more fragile this time, and she had actually died this time. Compared to the child lost, well, the mere idea of losing her it was… well, it was inconceivable.

Even as a genin he had feared losing her; just look at how he had reacted to Gaara having her pinned, or anyone coming near her in a fight. And even when he had tried to kill her he couldn't really imagine what losing her could do to him. Nor had he particularly cared.

"I heard she woke," a lazy voice announced and he saw Kakashi walk to her bed side.

"Briefly," he replied.

"That's a good sign. She'll heal up right as rain then," Kakashi said as he moved her stray pink strands aside. Sasuke grunted in agreement.

"How's Sarada doing?" Kakashi asked.

"Fine," he answered as he looked over her. Her body was still frail in appearance but she had looked better when she had woken up, her eyes had been lively.

"I'll take her home with me again tonight, alert me to any changes."

"Aa," he nodded as he rubbed her hand. He would not worry about Sarad so long as she was with Kakashi or Tsunade.

"Alright, and Sasuke; you're lucky she woke up for you. And you're even luckier she loves you in return, losing people you lose it rips you apart." Kakashi informed him before he disappeared. Sasuke couldn't disagree with that statement, it was the first time in his life he had needed someone; but then he had a feeling Sakura was always that person he needed.

"Maybe," he admitted then as he looked down at his sleeping wife and daughter. Maybe he did happen to love her; he didn't exactly have someone to speak to about this stuff or to observe, and he hadn't had sane role models since he had been about eight. It was entirely possible he did love her, but he didn't know entirely if he did or didn't love her. Why the hell couldn't his life and emotions ever be easy to understand? Naruto was simple, Sai was just dumb, Kakashi had everything under control, Yamato also had everything together, and Sakura just accepted everything she felt. However, he could never seem so… simple.

Sakura stirred a bit as she shifted Sarada off of her. Sarada just rested her head on her mother's chest then as she gripped Sakura's hospital gown.

"Sarada, life will just never be simple," he informed the toddler.

"Hn," she nodded solemnly as she hugged her mother. Strange, he was telling his daughter this, she was too little to understand all of what she was being told. Sarada fell asleep holding her mother, he lifted her fingers to his lips as he stared at her.

"She will be fine," Tsuande whispered to him as they walked to his office.

"I know, but there's a new problem for them," he admitted.

"What?"

"The council, they will never trust the Uchiha, that is a given, but worse, they want him under their thumb though they do not want to have him or in the village. They want Sakura away from him, here where they can hold leverage on him, and Sakura would be leverage on him. However, with Sarada they will have control of him; knowing them they will try to take the girl from both her mother and her father to raise her how they believe she should be; against him.

"Sasuke has suffered enough because of the council so I brokered a deal with them. A deal which he broke because he brought Sakura here; for good reasons but the deal had been broken all the same and the council knows about Sarada now; the entire village knows about her too. That is the reason I have kept her with me when she is not at the hospital; I have a bad feeling the council will have the ANBU try to take her from him and if Sarada's in danger…

"Well, there will be no stopping him, at least not without a lot of death and destruction." Kakashi informed her. The former fifth Hokage stopped in her tracks as she stared at the sixth Hokage.

"They wouldn't!" she gasped.

"They will, my sources have informed me they fear more Uchiha; it was the reason for the massacre, the suspicioun, and the hatred they foster for the Uchiha. It seems that even after all he could do for the village, he is not going to be trusted, and with another Sharingan user running about creating hell, there is much to fear from their stand point. They fear the Uchiha having a child, and Sarada will be feared. It was why I brokered the deal, however, it seems that it does not matter.

"Sasuke knew full well what he was doing bringing Sakura here, I have a feeling if you hadn't been the one to heal her she'd have died and then the Uchiha would leave the village and disappear with Sarada. However, he brought his wife and daughter here to save Sakura from death, knowing the price of this action. Now my only mission is to broker a deal with the council that keeps them from Sarada," Kakashi said darkly.

"They wouldn't really try anything, would they?" Tsunade asked.

"They ordered Itachi to murder his entire clan, and he did kill them all but Sasuke. However, unlike Itachi, Sasuke looks to take care of the village, and will blatantly ignore the council and their orders if he feels they are wrong. That is why they fear this Uchiha, he does what is right, not as is ordered. It isn't Sakura they fear, it's Sasuke, her marrying Sasuke gave them leverage over him, and then he took her from their grasps.

"Sasuke has countered their every move with ease.

"When they thought they had a hold on him, he leaves to atone his sins against their wishes. When they think he's returned, I sent him off on a mission before they could get their clutches in him and he'd react. Then, when he married Sakura they thought they'd have a hold on him, they had her under survalence when she was here and he was gone; did you know? No, I didn't think you would, no one knew, I found out when I visited her, she was under watch after she married him and he left.

"I didn't tell Sasuke but his next move when he returned was to take her from them and their grasp. He warned me though that if I were to keep Sakura under surveillance he would remove her from the village; he did too. And then they had Sarada. This is a very tricky situation Tsunade, and it's taking a lot of will power on my part not to chidori them for their arrogance and prejudice."

"Those fools! Do they not realize what they are doing to him!?" Tsunade hissed.

"No, but I'm brokering another deal with them, until them I'm keeping Sarada close, if she's not with me she's with her father."

"I'll help in watching over her while Sakura heals," Tsunade agreed.

"Thank you."