31st March XXX
Family.
A word that, although seemed so commonl, was an intricate web of much value — trust, peaking over them all. And perhaps it was true, no one realizes the worth of something before they experience its loss.
Sasuke Uchiha wasn't foreign to the feeling of losing. After all, at one point of his certainly stubborn existence he had lost everything. He very well knew the griping greif, thrist for vengeance coursing through his veins till it engulfed him whole. He threw away his friends, his second chance at happiness, and that was arguably the stupidest decision he had ever made. But in the end, Team 7 pulled through or rather, Naruto's iron-will did.
Love was another concept that appeared queer to him. For every individual, love meant something different. Role models were scarce in his life but even then, Sasuke couldn't associate love with his father's strange but serene smile towards his mother, who was doing mere household chores. Nor did he know love as the simple barter of materialistic things.
To him, love was the faint smell of roses wafting off a medic's coat, the simple meals made with love and the silent walks by the riverside, basking under the moonlight. And now, twenty four and happily married, Sasuke Uchiha experienced falling in love all over again.
A stray tear traveled the meadow of his pale cheek, cradling a tiny, fragile life between his arms. His eyes however were fixated on her — on Sakura Uchiha (Kami he still wasn't used to that!). Her back lay against the headrest of the hospital bed, rocking the other half of the twins that she had brought to life.
For a tween Sasuke, a family of his own was a normal deal, something he knew he'd need to revive his clan. Ignorant.
Spending his days in the cold hideouts under Orochimaru's tutelage, having a family became a pipe dream. Maybe the hope remained in some abandoned crevice of a heart that was too caught up in blind rage. Selfish.
After the war concluded, he was trapped in the Konoha ANBU TI centre for days, treated like a criminal. He didn't blame them, not really. Following thr closure with Itachi, the point of his life blurred somewhere in-between, the end of the rope being equally as messy as the beginning. Taking Konoha's side in the war was just a whim. Hopeless.
But through all of that, she was a constant in his life. Pale hair like that of cherry blossoms in bloom, cyan eyes shining brighter than the stars, she gave and gave without expecting anything in return. He wished she forgot, freed herself from the pain. For once, he wanted to save someone from being entangled in his messes. But he was too much of a coward to say that to her face.
And he didn't need to. Because even if the world turned against him, he could close his eyes and count on her to be there. She was there when he fell into the pit of everlasting darkness, ready to catch him at the end of the tunnel, to be his light. It wasn't easy shifting into a life of normalcy, as normal as it got for them. The war had drained a lot out of everyone, not a single surviving soul was left unscathed.
But with time and tremendous patience on her part, he learned to trust again. The same trust that had shattered the moment his parents' lifeless eyes bore into his, was slowly but surely mended. A hand soothed over his palm that had unconsciously fisted the wrinkled sheets. "Why the tears, 'Papa'?"
"Sakura...", his voice was barely above a whisper. She beamed up at him, through her terrible exhaustion.
She chuckled airily, green hies flickering towards the ceiling before meeting his coal black ones. "To tell you the truth, I never imagined I'd be here. Sasuke-kun, you're important to me and all I want is to be strong enough to have your back. Maybe I am a bit selfish but I chased my happiness when I chased after you — a boy who was scared, so very scared and all alone, but never once crumbled." A baby's whine tore through the poignant atmosphere, a second one following soon after.
Sasuke, still feeling fidgety, carefully rocked the little rosette back and forth. "Maa, looks like they got bored", Sakura stated, smiling still. "We haven't even decided on names yet."
Sasuke was quiet, staring off into space. "...Sarada and...Shouko..."
Sarada — a named combined by the syallbles 'Sa' from his name, 'Ra' from Sakura and finally 'Da' [a variant of 'Ta'] as a homage to his brother whom he owed his newfound happiness.
Shouko — back when they didn't know they were having twins, Sakura had thrown the name at him after a certain late-night run to the market for pickle and strawberry ice-cream. Amidst their expecting friends, she was the first to be born of the next generation — a ray of hope glimmering down from parted clouds of despair after a long war that waged on for far too long.
From the hallway outside, they could hear Naruto bickering with the nurse, something about seeing his pseudo neices and Kakashi-sensei's lackadaisical coaxing for him to stop. The new parents shared fond smiles, then looked down towards their daughters, pure adoration in their eyes. The lilac haired and the black haired girls squirmed next to each other on the bed, peeling their eyes open at the exact moment, revealing pitch black irises.
"Welcome to the family, Shouko, Sarada."
