notes: typos fixed; revised! (7/7/19)
rating: K
disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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21. child
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Sakura gingerly pokes the baby's tummy, earning giggles and gurgles for a response. They sound cheery, chiming like bells, a sound she'd yet to hear from the past few months she had spent journeying with Sasuke on the road. "She's full of energy today," comes a light comment from her, tone conversational and welcoming. It'd been two days of post-childbirth rest for her, stuck in a dingy old bed of Karin's in a spare room of her hideout—it'd been plentiful in boredom, yet Sakura didn't verbally voice that aloud as to not disrespect all the kindness Karin had showed them two days prior.
On the first day, her body was ailed with extreme aches and her eyes were always somehow half-lidded in exhaustion. Sakura had admittedly never been assigned in operations that dealt with childbirth in the hospital; it was mainly surgical for her or it was deep medicinal examinations. Not childbirth. She'd only read about them in the endless amount of medical books she owned. Heavy strain to the body was expected, and dear lords, it's hell. By the time the second day rolled around, the aches had been remarkably better and she suspected it was from the extra five hours of sleep she'd gotten.
Sasuke had been with her the whole time, practically glued to a chair, yet he'd remain wordless. Other times, he'd step out; he'd go out to seek for Karin about something or he'd go outside to retrieve some fresh air. Sakura never thought to ask him about it; she respected that he needed space—some space to let the reality of having a child together, a family, settle in his head. She's okay with it, because Sakura knew that he'd be there when she wakes up. Like right now.
"She always does," he responds to her with, tone placid as ever, but Sakura can see the corner of his lips curl upward for a moment. "She got it from you."
It's a fact, not an opinion—between the two of them, it'd always been her that beamed at him, showered him with excitement and love. If their child inherited something similar, most likely Sakura is the source. She giggles. "Well, she has your hair and eyes."
From her lap, a bundled Sarada coos. Sitting up on her bed, Sakura tries her best to blow a raspberry to enlighten the little girl, puffing her cheeks and sticking out her tongue as if she was years younger. Beside Sarada's laughter, it was quiet. Karin had been doing checkups in the other rooms of the lair and was overall mindful to not disturb the Uchiha family acquainting with their newest addition, then she holed herself up in one of the labs conducting samples and research from something she'd found particularly exciting enough to steal her attention the rest of the day. Sasuke was still quiet, as ever, but he sometimes indulged her when Sakura talks to him and guiltily enough, she enjoyed the attention.
Sasuke takes a moment to assess their baby with a brief look, humbly. "Her eyes shaped after yours." A good blend of both of their eyes, he thinks. When Sarada grows up, he'd no doubt that she would resemble his wife more in terms of appearance; they even have the same smile. Maybe her hair would bear Sakura's styled bangs too, swept to the side.
"She shares a lot of our traits," Sakura amends, amused. Maybe if she said that their baby has his smirk, he'd somehow say it in a way that it meant her smirk. Rarely does she ever smirk; she enjoyed smiling more. Even Ino had said at some point that she had a nice smile. "She'll be so pretty in a couple of years," murmurs Sakura idly, tickling the baby's tummy again with a finger. "Someday, Uchiha Sarada will be the talk of her class. Has a nice ring to it!"
Sarada will someday be admitted into the Academy and in there, she'll be trained to be a shinobi and protect her loved ones and excel in subjects that displayed her smarts. She'd grow up a young girl full of smiles like Sakura and she'll be a little bundle of sunshine in the house—she'll be so happy. She can tell Sasuke is still accommodating to the idea of a family together, but she can tell he's trying and that's really all she could ask for. He'll be happy too.
"She already is that right now," he eventually says, his eye focused on the way how Sarada beams a toothless grin as him.
Sarada is their new beginning.
