While Boruto was saving damsels in distress, Sarada became the primary caregiver for her brothers, opting to take a sabbatical from missions and other duties. Shockingly, she was joined in this overwhelming endeavor by her father, who categorically refused to be sent outside Konoha until a calamity of world proportions presented itself. Although six Uchiha could very well be labeled as such. Blessedly, the boys inherited Sasuke's brooding personality and did not cause much mischief or problems, but six children were a considerable challenge.
While bathing, feeding and playing with her little brothers, Sarada had some very unexpected thoughts entering her mind. Like she was glad to receive such invaluable experience in preparation for having her own children. Yes, she voiced her wish to have a family, but its realization seemed far away in the future. Now she was caring for toddlers who were very much real, who were the gift of love of her mother, who went through two pregnancies in secret. Did Sarada still not wish to experience love of her parents like she told Boruto? Or she just didn't understand them? Will she ever?
….
The Uchiha officially moved into the Hyuga's compound on the insistence of the Hyuga's family head, since, obviously, they would never fit into the house previously occupied only by Sakura and Sarada. Hyuga Hiashi had another six adorable kids to spoil and the Uchiha could finally live together as one, if big, family. Despite the house being spacious, a child's cry carried well, so Sakura was instantly alerted to her children's distress after returning from work. When she followed the sounds of wailing, she came upon an astonishing scene. The elder triplets were crying, sitting around Sarada, who was bawling her eyes out. It came out right away that the boys were crying only by following the example of their older sister and that Sarada was the one, who was in true distress.
Sarada quickly calmed the boys down and moved them to another room then returned to help her eldest child. Sakura joined her daughter on the floor and gathered her in an embrace that should bring at least some consolation.
"What happened, dear?"
"He is not here! I was telling the boys about one of our missions and turned to snap at him, because he always embellishes his actions, but he wasn't there! He is always there! I miss him so much! Is this love, Mama?"
So her little girl was all grown up already, hm? When did that happen? "Just tell me everything that's been going on, okay?"
And so Sarada began her now personal story, interspersing it with hiccups. "Remember when we've gotten the rank of chunin? During exams, he was… magnificent. He had a lot to prove concerning the previous exam's fiasco, but showed everybody his true talent. I prayed that we wouldn't be pitted against each other in individual fights, but of course, we were. Right before the fight he told me, he would be serious despite our friendship and I had nothing against it. The fight was… brutal…"
"I remember. The referee declared you both winners since it has been going for longer than an hour."
"I felt… some kind of emptiness creeping inside me during the fight. I was completely sure whom I was fighting. He was my friend. My closest friend. But the understanding that he won't always be, crushed me.
"Three days later was Valentine's Day. I was sitting in a café when I saw him and Sumire across the street. She was presenting him chocolates and he was all red… and he took them… I don't remember how I found myself in my room. One moment I watched them smiling at each other and the next – my pillow was wet from tears. There could've been so many innocent explanations, but for some inexplicable reason, I knew I lost him even if I had never had him, had no right to. It was the same way how I felt during the fight during the exams. He was pulling away, going his own way. And he has all the right to do so, but it… hurt so damn much! As if he was taking a part of me with him.
"I needed air so I found myself at the Hokage Mountain of all places. And as if Fate had not been cruel enough, he conjured himself there. We exchanged small talk until I gathered myself to inform him that I was not going to help him choose sweets for Sumire in a month. And he just looked at me as if I had lost my marbles and asked offhandedly why he would do such a ridiculous thing. I actually blew up at him right then and there. I was literally dying inside and he didn't even care! My feelings were for naught, but at least Sumire should be treated as she deserved. So I shouted at him that since he accepted her chocolates and her feelings, he better get his act together and not hurt her. And then he said, as if it was the basic knowledge and how did I even think otherwise, that he made his promise with me, and Sumire knows that, she was simply expressing her friendship. And he still has some of the sweets, did I want any?
"And I just stood there, at the top of the mountain, with only moonlight to illuminate us, and somehow my world righted itself even if it was wobbling with the stare of his star-shining eyes. And then he just cried out completely out of context: 'You have three already! Great job!'. It took me a moment to realize he was talking about my Sharingan. My inner turmoil matured my Sharingan in one single day voiding all my previous training. Papa didn't ask me anything when I informed him about the change. Papa just somehow knew… Knew that he is my ultimate strength and greatest weakness. What am I to do, Mama?"
Sakura stroked her daughter's back, who squeezed her in a painfully tight embrace as if holding on for dear life. Sarada must be hoping for her mother to have all the answers, and Sakura was not that sure about that.
"So what do you feel for Boruto?"
"It's like a Fire jutsu engulfs me whole… every time we touch or lock eyes."
"For how long?"
"I don't know… three years?"
"Three years! And what have you two been doing all this time?!"
"We try not to. I know, he feels the same discomfort, so we just don't. No sparring, no looking at each other, no touching, not much talking, not much of anything really. Except for missions, of course. At least we tried…"
"What about other guys? You must've met a considerable number of boys during those four years."
"Yeah… But it was nothing like that… Even if they paid me special attention or flirted with me, nothing compared… And he didn't even… show interest…"
Sakura understood that mother's embrace comforted Sarada considerably into sharing such intimate thoughts, but her last statement, which Sakura found absurd, made the latter hold her daughter at arm's length.
"You can't possibly think that, Sarada. Boruto has always cared for you deeply."
"But is it enough, Mama? Before he left… he told me, he loved me, but…" Sarada mumbled under her breath, her cheeks as red as her Sharingan.
"And you don't believe him? Or you are hesitating in your belief because you are surprised of him developing such a mature feeling since you are the more mature one of the two of you?" Sarada's deepened blush was Sakura's answer. "Only you know what is in your heart, Sarada, my only advice – do not hide from it. When Boruto returns… you two need to talk. About your feelings… about your future. You will never know if the feelings of either of you are true if you do not allow yourselves to experience what they entail."
….
When entering the sanctity of marriage, one does make various concessions. One such concession of Sasuke to his wife was to sleep shirtless on the rare occasions he shared their marital futon. Sakura knew how self-conscientious her husband was about his stump, even if he had almost no restrictions having only one arm. Still, Sakura continued to show her acceptance of his disfigurement and foolishness that led to it by insisting on not covering his arm in the privacy of their bedroom. The place, where they shared not only intimacy, but intimate conversations.
"Our daughter is in love, Sasuke."
"I've been aware for quite some time."
"And you did nothing?!"
"The only thing I didn't do was to sit them down together to say that if they want to date, they should, especially if they want to date each other. But never in my life have I seen two fools more stubborn."
"But surely they wouldn't start anything with your constant presence, Sasuke. I am sure, they were simply afraid of your wrath-"
"I did everything to push them together. I sent them on independent errands and missions as well as training without supervision and, even if they followed my instructions to complete them together, with time they found more and more ways to archive the needed result by working separately.
"I thought that if their feelings were strong enough, they would either sneak around – for which they had every opportunity – or declare themselves to me. Boruto in particular; I imagined, he wouldn't be deterred by anything if he believed his cause to be right. But they did neither, they just continued to suffer in solitude. When we came back… I hoped that seeing their peers and close friends dating would nudge them into wishing the same. But when we left again, it was even worse. It seemed that seeing their friends dating put an even deeper wedge between them. Ironically, their perception of each other only grew.
"Some months into our second trip, I happened to witness something I thought I'd never see in my life. Boruto left the campsite, as he claimed, to clear his head, and I followed, sensing his distress. He didn't notice, which was already alarming since he always does. Once he was far enough from the camp, he hit a tree, a giant one, with his bare fist and then with the other one. And he kept hitting the trunk, muttering 'don't look, don't feel' with every punch like a mantra. For hours, Sakura. Until the tree had fallen.
"He wrapped his hands, so the injuries would not be visible, but of course, Sarada noticed right away and started fussing and scolding him, but still healed him. And it was clear that her being beside him physically hurt Boruto much more than his bloody skinless knuckles.
"After that episode, I realized that something had to be done and suggested for us to return to Konoha, but they vehemently protested. According to them, their training was far from complete so we should push on. Sometime later Boruto called me aside to talk in private. He told me that he researched the development of the Sharingan so we could not go back yet. I could not see the connection between those two statements at first, but when I did… I could not believe the boy was so serene about it. His exact words were: 'I vowed to protect her. It will be okay for me not to stand beside her if my demise makes her able to be stronger to protect everyone.' I couldn't dissuade him, a sixteen-year-old boy, no matter how I tried. His only answer – better him now, when somebody else she truly cared for in the future.
"And I also was sure that nobody else's loss could trigger Sarada's Mangekyo Sharingan. And so our training trip turned into a suicide mission. Although, it was hard to determine which one of them was killing oneself. Anybody else would've said, that I would've been the slave driver, pushing them to their limits, but they were pushing plenty themselves to goals unachievable for kids their age. And pushing each other away in the process. I wanted them to have what we couldn't because of the war and my misguided quest for revenge. Just to be happy and carefree with the person they cared for, instead, I felt as if they were standing at the opposite sides of the waterfall in the Valley of the End, like Naruto and I did, and slowly killing each other by not crossing the stream.
"They grew tremendously during those years, but mostly as shinobi. And I am afraid, it is my fault isolating them to such a degree without anyone but me to talk to, and I am hardly an approachable advisor in such matters."
"You are not completely blameless, anata, but who could imagine that what was so obvious to everybody for years, won't be seen by the lovebirds in question?"
"Naruto was surprised when I told him about the possibility."
"Well, you know Naruto… But enough about others when I am having you all to myself…"
"Seven kids is not enough for you, woman?" Sasuke asked with pretense irritation when Sakura unbelted her yukata. His wife's body clearly bore signs of three pregnancies, but they didn't make her any less desirable. Sasuke thanked every day any deity, who allowed him to experience the endless devotion and love of the woman in his arms. He only hoped that his daughter wouldn't be deprived of such happiness.
"I can't conceive anymore, but it doesn't make me burn for you any less, anata."