notes: rewrote this completely and fixed the typos! (12/28/2018)
rating: K
disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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14. sing
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Outside of Sarada's room, Sasuke adjusts himself, stepping near the walls until his shadow is hidden from the doorway where light from her room shined on. The clock he'd taken a glance at earlier keeps ticking, ticking, ticking away—and without straining his ears, he listens to Sakura hum a small melody under her breath. It'd been awkward for Sasuke to see Sarada; she'd only been born for a couple of weeks—five weeks, actually—and there hadn't been a day where could feel comfortable enough to see her. He's doing better than four weeks ago, but he's still adjusting, slowly.
On some days, Sakura had to rest and sleep, a result of after childbirth, and Sarada was left to either Karin or Sasuke to take care of. Karin frequently entertained the girl. Sometimes Karin would let her fumble with relatively safe objects in the lair, she'd let Sarada crawl to corners of the room that Sasuke had click his tongue at ("What? She's obviously enjoying it! Let a girl have a fun.") before swiping her off to place her on a chair where she'd count the patterns on the walls instead. He left her alone as quickly as he was when he'd swiped her away; he didn't know how to react to a baby. This was all too new. He didn't know how to handle children, not when he didn't really have the sunniest collection of childhood memories. He took away so much with this hand of his—and with the one he'd lost—and it didn't seem right to hold her. She was too... new to the world, much too innocent.
He wasn't sure if he could be a father.
Karin would make a comment or two ("Geez, even Jūgo wouldn't be this afraid and y'know how he is, Sasuke.") but would most often keep Sakura company during times when Sasuke felt too intimidated to approach Sarada. Sakura, understanding why he'd feel that way, would become understanding, but would also be partially exasperated all the same, given how skittish he's being or how he's still living in the past so it seems.
It had taken him some time—Karin kept count of the four weeks they had spent at her lair as if she were hosting some daycare center, which she definitely did not do—until he could get used to it with some persuasion on Sakura's end. It had been on a Saturday morning. Sarada couldn't sleep and Karin had to step out; Sasuke was in the other room, cleaning his sword as a past-time, and he could hear the low soothing hums from Sakura's song as she tried to put her to sleep. It's a gentle song, wordless, but the tune is sweet and loving, one that Sasuke found himself at peace with whenever he heard it. When Sarada was put to sleep that day, Sasuke finally held her before they went home.
They spent a whole week at the Uchiha compound as Sakura was on maternity leave, and Naruto was kind enough to let Sasuke spend some time at home, sparing him of lists and lists of missions. Throughout the passing nights, Sasuke taken a habit to listening to her idle humming whenever it was time to put Sarada to bed—he'd close his eyes and lean on the wall. Those moments, he found most cherished to him; there was something about that song that soothed him and cast away whatever fears he'd felt.
Sasuke gives a smirk, almost a smile, when the lights to Sarada's room clicked off and Sakura's song trails off and exits to greet him.
