THE GIFT Part 7

There was a grand party and everyone was attended and enjoy their time. Among the attendees, the couple danced after they heard their favorite song playing. Sasuke noticed his wife smiling, feeling the music. "What's with that smile?"

Sakura replied. "It's nothing. I just- I just remember that I have a gift for you."

"Alright. If you can't wait to give it to me-"

But immediately, Sakura pulled out a small perfectly wrapped box from her dress and gave it to him. "Here it is!"

Sasuke was surprised. "Did you just hide it from your-"

"-in my bra. Yes." She chuckled. "Open it."

Smiling, he opened the gift curious what's inside the small box.

Sakura watched his face turned from curious to shock. She smiled at the sight of his expression.

"Oh my god..." He quickly embraced her tightly. "Please, tell me this is a joke."

"It is not..." She assured him. "You are squeezing me, Sasuke."

Sasuke stopped hugging. "Sorry. Sorry..." Then he looks back at the gift? "When?"

"Last night."

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

Sakura just giggled.

He cannot hold his joy. Sasuke embraced her again but this time gently. "Oh, I love you, Sakura."

Sakura smiled. "I love you too... Sasuke"

After those sweet words, everything became dark.

Sweat dripping down from his forehead. Sasuke felt it coming down and woke up. Then he saw himself in a small room with a candle lighting the place. He looked down and saw bandages all over him. Still, his left arm is gone. Then he noticed just at the corner Sakura was sitting down, watching him as she holds a necklace with cherry blossom design?

"Wh- what happened?" he asked.

Sakura answered him. "Welcome to the Resistance. They took us to their hideout."

"Naruto? Where is he?"

"Leading the Resistance to destroy your clan."

Sasuke got worried about his parents. "NO!"

She assured him. "Do not worry. Your parents were giving them information about the clan. They also orchestrated this Resistance."

"But why?"

Sakura grunted, tired of answering him. "I don't know. Ask them."

"Then I'm going with them. I can help them-" He tried to get off the bed.

But Sakura pushed him back. "No. You stay here."

"Why?"

Sakura still holding on to the necklace. "I've been thinking... you have the power to change the past. But what you did... can you undo it?"

Sasuke nodded, shaking his head. He doesn't want to do it again. "I cannot."

Sakura began to yell. "You can! You just don't want to do it! She pulled out a kunai from her sleeve. The cherry blossom necklace was attached on the dagger."

"Sakura... what's... what's that for?"

"Your brother is dead and the last thing he wanted you to do was to undo what you did... and yet-" She stabbed his leg, making sure he felt it.

Sasuke screamed as he tried to stop her.

But Sakura pushed the kunai deep in his leg, twisting it. "You still won't undo it."

"Sakura... you have to understand…"

She told him. "I understand enough!"

The Uchiha tried to keep calm but the pain was distracting, making him unfocused. He held her hand, trying to pull the dagger out.

Soon she started to beg. Tears fall from her eyes. "Sasuke! Please! Undo this! There is no certainty that Naruto and the Resistance would win this. If they failed, they will come to us… and we'll be all dead! DEAD!"

Sasuke has high hopes of Naruto. He knew he will succeed. But he also knows what will happen if he does undo it. "If I do it, your child will cease to exist."

Sakura admits the hard fact but soon learned to accept it. "Yes. Just a small sacrifice to get a better future. The future you abandoned where there was peace."

Sasuke assured her. "Naruto will lead this world to peace. Trust me on this, Sakura. He will win."

Sakura shook her head, not believing what the Uchiha said. "I can't trust you, Sasuke."

"Naruto can make the world a better place for you and your child Arashi."

"How about your child… Sarada? What about her future?"

Upon hearing that name, he remembered his moments with his daughter, her training, her missions with her friends, her achievements and adventures with him. Every day and every minute with her brings him joy. "Sarada…"

A fragment of his memory played out in his mind. It was Sarada asking him. "Dad, will I ever get a sibling?"

Sasuke soon remembered her last words before he left. "Sarada... I remember…" Sakura's little gift at the part. "Her gift."

Sasuke looked back at the confused and distressed Sakura. "Your little gift to me."

His words mean nothing to her. She doesn't understand. "Gift?"

Sasuke soon realized what he did wrong. He knows what he has to do. He looked at Sakura one last time. "I'm sorry, Sakura." Then he summoned the crow containing Obito's eye. One last use to undo what he did. Sasuke used the reserved eye and disappeared from her sight.

Sakura gasped as she witnessed the man who went back in time and undoes what he has done. She watched and knew she made the right choice. She breathes heavily upon persuading Sasuke and her anticipation of history-changing. She calmed herself and reminded herself. "This is for the best."

But soon a Resistance member came in, spreading the news to everyone. He was overjoyed that he screamed at the top of his lungs. "WE WON!" Konohamaru repeated what he said. "Naruto did it! He stopped the Uchiha clan!"

Konohamaru cried as he delivered the good news. "He finally did it! Peace at last!"

Shocked, Sakura realized that she made a mistake. Sasuke was telling the truth after all.

Konohamaru saw her and approached her with the news. "Sakura! We should tell-" He was cut off mid-sentence as he disappeared from existence.

Sasuke has changed the past and now the future is changing.

Speechless, Sakura left the room and head towards the next quarters where her baby Arashi was sleeping. As she walked towards the room, the people around her who were celebrating began to disappear one by one. They did not notice but only she knows. Sakura arrived at the room and saw Kurenai-sensei cradling Arashi. She tried to force the words out as she holds down her tears. "Can I have him for a sec?"

Kurenai smiled as she cradled the baby back to Sakura. "Of course." She carefully gives the baby to Sakura but her hands began to disappear and she's not aware of it. "So... have you heard the news-?" Then her voice stopped and she disappeared as well.

Sakura ignored everything around her and continued on cradling her baby. "Arashi... remember my voice..." She let out her emotions, her regret. "Mama loves you. Papa loves you. We all love you. ... and I'm sorry." She cried knowing she will lose him. "I'm so sorry..." She embraced her child one last time and felt the change crawling up to them.

Soon, everything disappeared as history changed.

Sasuke woke up on his residence in his bedroom. After undoing what he did, he turned and saw Sakura sleeping beside him. "Sakura?" He shook her gently.

Seconds later, Sakura grunted. "What is it?" She didn't turn to face him.

"It's... nothing," Sasuke said. "I think I had a bad dream."

She sighed and told him. "I need some sleep, Sasuke. I had a long night. Okay?"

Sasuke understands and tried to leave her alone. "Alright. I'll just... go downstairs and have a drink..." He got up and leaves. He went downstairs and took a drink. He knew he undoes everything from the start. But then he noticed a small perfectly wrapped box. He remembered it was Sakura's gift from the party. He knew what's inside. A pregnancy test confirming his second child. Filled with hope and joy, he knows what name he will give. "I'm going to name him Arashi... maybe... but if it's a girl...: He can't help himself. He opened the gift to see inside however he found something different.

What's inside is the cherry blossom necklace and a note written: "A little reminder of my love"

Realizing what he has done, Sasuke did not fix everything entirely. The timeline changed a little. The gift has changed. His second child did not exist. "No... no... this cannot be." Sasuke reflected on his mistake and his meddling with time and cried after that. He admits it.

He was a fool.

Unbeknownst to him, Sakura was hiding her tears back at their room, remembering her alternate life and her baby Arashi.

Sakura cried. "My baby boy..."