Back in their home and getting some time together was helping both mother and daughter to cope. Sasuke was back in the village and had already checked on Sarada at the hospital. Sakura had told him about Sarada, although she regretted it then. This was the first time in all these years, that Sakura had let him know how scared she was. Sakura had seen many ups and downs with Sarada. She had nursed Sarada before, but she never fretted over the issue to Sasuke. His missions were crucial, and she didn't want him to worry about them.

After dinner, Sakura was waiting for Sasuke to arrive. With every passing second, she grew more restless until she finally snuck to her daughter's room, like she had back at the hospital. As quiet as she could, she inched open the door and saw messy black hair contrasting with the white pillow. She strolled silently towards the bed and sat down next to her sleeping daughter. The regular and calm breathing told Sakura that her daughter was sleeping soundly. She observed the slow rhythmic fall and rise of her daughter's shoulders that reminded her of the day her daughter had breathed the air for the first time.

"It's a girl," a red-headed woman announced while Sakura was still struggling to breathe. Her labored breaths and face contorted with pain were replaced by a smile, eyes tightly shut, when the newborn began to cry.

After Karin took her time to clean the newborn, she finally placed the little one near the new mother.

Sakura adjusted her position to face her little daughter. It amazed her how tiny she was, how her little chest rose and fell as she gasped to inflate her tiny lungs with air. Her red skin was covered with fine hair and the signature Uchiha black hair adorning her little crown. Sakura was awestruck, thinking just how much a baby could be both beautiful and vulnerable at the same time.

Sakura snuggled closer to her. Her shaky hand rested on her small head, too afraid she might hurt her, as she vowed, "From now on, your mama is going to protect you, no matter what!"

Tears started spilling from Sakura's eyes as she threw aside the facade she had been wearing. She cried silently as her palm again found its way to her daughter's head, caressing her locks. Sometimes, she couldn't believe how, in the blink of an eye, her daughter had grown so fast. Sometimes, she just wanted the time to slow down so she could cherish some more time with her. Maybe, if they had more time together, she could have warned her daughter better about the cruelty that existed in the world. Maybe then Sarada wouldn't have fallen so hard and had her reality shattered. The little Sarada she knew always ran behind her. Out of everything she missed, she missed that part most, though she knew all children eventually grew up and that she had no right to stop her daughter from doing the same.

Sarada felt a hand resting over her head. It felt heavy. She still had a lingering headache from overusing her sharingan. She wasn't sure if she was dreaming or hallucinating as she hadn't fully recuperated. She heard a light sniffling sound and craned her neck to see her mother.

"Mama?" Sarada could see the sadness in her mother's eyes and she realized it was too real to be a dream.

"Sorry, I woke you up." Sakura apologized as she wiped her tears and smiled.

Sarada flinched from the headache as her hand involuntarily moved to rub her temple.

"I'll make it better." Sakura started pouring her green healing chakra as the expression on Sarada's face became relieved. Yes, Sakura was protecting her baby in her own way.

Sarada got up from her resting position and hugged Sakura. Sakura returned the embrace, holding her tightly. Both unaware, Sasuke was watching them, reliving the moment when Sakura had first lulled little Sarada to sleep in her arms. A smile escaped from his lips and he decided not to disturb them.

"Mama, I'll be fine," Sarada assured her mother, telling her not to worry—not then, and not the next day.

Sakura nodded as she spoke, "Sleep now. Papa will be training you from tomorrow."

Seeing her daughter's face lit up was like an ointment to her bruises. Sakura tucked her in and watched her fall asleep again.

After a few minutes, when she was about to get up, she sensed Sasuke by the door. He walked into the room and gestured to Sakura not to say anything. Sasuke knelt down beside the bed to look at his daughter. He had completed his mission and returned to Konoha as soon as he could. It had put enormous stress on him, but he couldn't ignore his family. He hated those bastards when he heard their names for the first time in the Hokage's office. He questioned his duty of protecting the village and its future from the shadows when notorious threats like Kara were still lurking. He hated it even more to see Sarada and Boruto like that, although he successfully hid it with his cool demeanor. Thus, he tried joining dots between Hashirama cells and Kara with Naruto, Shikamaru, and others. He too had spent sleepless nights at home alone while Sarada was at the hospital and Sakura tended to her, worrying both about his daughter and wife.

Sakura closed the door behind them as they got out of the room.

"Welcome home, Anata."

"Aah. I'm back."

A moment of silence lingered between them as green eyes met mismatched ones. Sakura wrapped her arms around his torso, burying her face in his chest and whispering, "I was so afraid. What if something worse had happened?" Finally, she had someone to voice her worst fear.

Sasuke held his wife close as his lone arm comforted her, rubbing her back, resting his chin on her head. He knew he didn't need to remind her about the extreme difficulties of shinobi life—Sakura had lived through them herself. He knew she just needed someone to share her fears.

Sasuke felt her warm tears soaking his clothes.

"Sakura?"

She lifted her face from his chest. Sasuke wiped her tears by his fingers and said, "She is our daughter."

Don't worry. She will be alright. She will get stronger. She knows how to take care of herself. Failures are needed to refine one's skill. And we trust our daughter.

Although these sentences were unspoken, Sakura nodded as though she had understood everything.

It had been a long week for all of them. Both Sasuke and Sakura breathed sighs of relief now that their family was back under the same roof.

I wish if we have got some exposure of Sasuke dealing with Sarada being hospitalized! Here is my attempt to how things had been with Sasuke.

Hope you all liked it! Please leave reviews and let me know what you think.

Thank you for reading! :)