Things hadn't improved in the following months since the dark cloud hung over his head. The dark cloud summoned by that damned letter by that damned minx coming to his home for god knows what purpose! He knew what purpose.
She was going to make trouble; she wanted to see his kid because she wanted to scope out his marriage, his mindset. Karin was always trouble. As if he needed more stress in his life. Sarada was getting bigger, but easier, absolutely not. Her cry had sounded faintly cute for the first few months; even if it did hurt his heart to hear, now it hurt just as much while also sounding like a wailing storm siren.
The growing girl was no longer content to lie in her crib or in his arm for hours at a time either. Her newly discovered crawling powers needed to be exercised and constantly! That meant a lot more accidental bumps, which of course, meant a lot more crying.
He barely trained at all anymore, and sleep deprivation still haunted him.
Nightmares were getting worse too.
Horrible visions of finding the innocent baby's body, of a little girl being tortured or tormented, of falling asleep while she was in his care and of killing her because of it. That last one in particular had him jerking awake from bed, desperate to remember exactly where he was and where she was. It was hellish.
He jerked when the source of a solid 25% of his anxiety barged into his home too. Her letter had only mentioned that she was on her way, and that she would arrive within a couple months; it made no mention of the actual day. It was a lazy weekday morning, he was sitting in his living room watching the little goob out of the corner of her eye as she clacked two tiny toys repeatedly when a louder sound shot him upright.
Footsteps approaching the front door with no effort to be quiet were still something he could notice, easily at that, but the lack of any stop or knock and the sound of his locked door flying open sent him into a combat stance. His legs firm as stone, even as Sarada began wailing in fright on the floor. Karin smiled despite all this.
At least her words were apologetic.
"Oh, oops," she offered, looking at the screaming child on the ground.
"OOPS?!" he barked back, angry even as he tried to relax his posture, scooping up his child. "You smashed through my damn door like a maniac. What the hell did you think would happen? Did you not think in the fucking slightest y- you broke my goddamn door!" he repeated, even gesturing to it as the wailing grew softer, Sarada hiding her face against his chest.
Karin blinked a few times, losing her smile as she met his gaze.
She didn't speak until the silence began to linger.
"You're tense," she commented factually. It was all he could do not to scream in response, and she saw that in his eyes. "Come on Sasuke, lighten up a little," she asked in a calm voice, lowering the temperature the slightest bit. "I mean, seriously, you're rich as fuck now. How much is a door repair going to really set you back? Excuse me for being excited to see you after over a year," the slight smile she ended with made him roll his eyes and snort in faint amusement.
"It's a pain in the ass to get it done; that's the real problem. I have enough on my plate with this one," he replied, his voice a whisper as his knees and hips shook around in a ridiculous dance, finally seeming to calm his daughter's cries. Karin giggled at the sight, which drew the babies attention, flying away around the corner as if his daughter were some terror to be feared widened the infants eyes in wonder.
It also captured her focus, killing the last of her tantrum.
She even laughed as Karin poked back and forth out of sight, huddling and hawing in fear each time Sarada looked back toward her. After the third cherubic giggle, the young woman actually came closer, still acting like she was approaching a venomous serpent and still delighting his daughter with the little dance.
Sasuke didn't even object when she finally laid a finger on the soft, chubby limb, an action that made his daughter laugh when the hand yanked back.
"Oh she's adorable! She feeds on fear~" she added through a fit of giggles, staring directly at his spawn in his arms. The kid took after Sasuke far more, and she couldn't help but smile at that observation. Sure, Sakura was pretty, but her dad was just gorgeous, elegant and regal; a proper clan head to the core.
"I'm still mad at you for the door," he clarified, though his voice had returned more to the standard, base annoyance that he usually spoke to her with.
"Give me a few thousand Ro I'll take care of it, have it fixed by the end of the day," she claimed.
"So you're going to make me pay for your property destruction?"
"What, you think I'm rolling in cash?" she teased, even sticking her tongue out. "Besides, you did try to have me killed; I'm not exactly in the red just because I made your little girl cry,"
"Is that why you're here? You need money?"
"PSH, you never really need money when you're as fast and quiet as me," she rebutted. "I came to meet your kid!"
"Really?" he asked skeptically.
"I came to see you, but I am happy to meet you, little lady," she added, even grabbing his daughter again, pinching her arm, and smiling wider than usual down at the curious little girl. "Damn, she even glares like you! It's so fucking cute!" she squealed, looking down at the increasingly irritated little creature as she backed off a bit. She strolled out of the room as he looked through a nearby drawer for his coin purse. He didn't trouble himself with where she was going.
"Wait, seriously, you're going to send me out to handle repairs right after I show up to see you?" she asked, crossing her arms from the doorway where she'd appeared.
"I'd like my daughter's home to have a locked door, ideally before any of us sleep,"
"Okay, fine, that's a fair point," she admitted, cracking a mischievous grin at her next word. "You do look like shit; definitely need all the sleep you can get. Want me to take the kid with, so you can nap?" she asked.
"She'd cry; she doesn't let anyone hold her but me and sometimes Sakura," he countered, not even addressing her appraisal of his state. "Please just go get this done,"
"Alright, alright," she relented. "I'll bring dinner back too, so don't waste time with that,"
The fact he only hummed in reply showed a great deal of appreciation in Karin's mind. The fact that he didn't argue with the idea or tell her outright not to bother. It showed just how much he did want her to do such a thing, and that made her more devious side light up. It even showed a little in her following words.
"Sakura doesn't cook much?" she asked with a smile, just a little too coy.
"Thank God," he acknowledged without thinking, blinking in embarrassment as Karin laughed. She said nothing else as she left, and Sasuke found his spirits a bit higher, even looking at the literal destruction she left behind. The lock had been forced with blunt force trauma out of place before the nob was twisted, but the actual doorway itself looked fairly intact.
Besides, it's not like the cost of repairs meant anything to him.
True to her word, Karin came back not two hours later with all manner of bounty. He'd expected something quick and fried, maybe dumplings, not the feast of a meal she brought home with her. A massive salad filled with cherry tomatoes, multiple sliced and served fish that smelled divine, rice still steaming in its pot…
Sasuke had three bowls of that last one just to get his stomach straight before savoring the rest. The door was fixed before they were done. Some light-haired young man he didn't recognize got to work on it as soon as he set her various cargo down, much to the patriarch's surprise. Karin only laughed and remarked that it was amazing how fast you could be serviced when you paid triple.
Then she said she wanted to make sure he wasn't mad at her when she left, and winked.
Sasuke focused on his succulent salad after that, not wanting to encourage or acknowledge the flirty attitude she was showing. It felt like it was ramping up too, her eyes growing more lidded, her smile coyer. Maybe she was proud of herself for helping him, but he doubted it.
He knew Karin was evil, selfish at best.
It made him wonder why she would even be interested in him anymore, now that he had no grand aspirations of leadership and power. Sure, he was a clan head, wealthy too after inheriting all the assets of his clan, and doubly so after they'd accrued decades of interest in a bank, but as Karin said, she didn't really need money.
Hell, she could earn herself easily in combat or a medical field.
It was a relief when Sarada broke him from his thoughts, even as it formed an immediate sense of dread hearing her cry. It didn't help that he knew exactly what she wanted. Karin must have seen it in his sigh or slouch as he prepared her bottle, quickly heating the breastmilk as the volume of his daughter rose in ferocity.
The sight of her dinner only amped her up further.
"What, you don't like feeding your daughter?" Karin asked bluntly at his second sigh, when he finally finished the prep and picked his daughter up.
"She doesn't like drinking from a bottle," he grumbled, holding it in place before her mouth as her weightless little limbs tried to bat it away.
"Oh? Does she like boobs as much as her daddy?" she mocked, coming closer to look down at the fussy girl. "Let me try," she continued, not waiting for an answer. Sasuke almost thought to protest, but with a heavy meal in his gut and little more than two hours of sleep in as many days, his reaction time wasn't quite there.
Besides, Sarada settled the slightest bit as she was taken. Her face went right into the boob, and that made even him uncomfortable, even as Karin lit up with laughter. Then she made things even more inappropriate by yanking down her top. First unzipping her simple shirt from the top until they were free, thence yanking the simple crimson bra down to reveal her bare bosom.
"Karin," he remarked, letting his deadpan tone carry the protest in his one word.
"What?" she asked with a naughty smile. "It's working, she's drinking! Besides, not like you haven't seen my girls before~" she teased, continuing to rest the bottle directly atop one of those 'girls' to trick his daughter into taking it. That was the reason Sasuke didn't protest further; as she said, it was working.
Turning around to avoid the sight seemed like a way to avoid sin. Sakura wouldn't like him watching; she didn't even like it when he watched her breastfeed, much to his disappointment. She said it was creepy to have him hovering and staring down at her. This was a whole other matter though, lord knew Sakura could be jealous, and worse, she didn't know about his prior relationship with Karin.
That might have to change now; it occurred to him.
He closed his eyes and groaned at the thought, just knowing damn well that she'd want Karin to never enter his home again and that she wouldn't give a shit what Sakura wanted. It all played out so plainly in his head. It all shifted so subtly and swiftly from casual thought to the hallucination of dreams.
Sasuke didn't realize it until he woke up.
The sky outside was dark, with just the barest flicker of sunset outside, and that sent his heart slamming. He shot upright. Karin raised an eyebrow from the cushioned seat two steps to his left, Sarada safely in her arms, sleeping against her chest.
"So cute, you both konk right out after eating," she remarked, delighting in that flustered look that was so rare on her Uchiha's face. There was even a faint pink on his cheeks! It was hidden by his messy, unkempt hair, but she saw it!
"Shit…. Sorry Karin I-"
"-it's fine, Sasuke! Like I said, you look like you need a little rest, and Sarada's just adorable. She's just how I imagined you as a baby," she added, slowly stroking the girl's belly with one hand.
"Do you want to hand her to me?"
"Are you confident in your ability to do a handoff without waking her? You know she was insanely tired too, right?" she claimed. Sasuke didn't know how she arrived at that conclusion, but he didn't feel like arguing with a doctor. Besides, she'd shown some skill at this thus far. "I'm sure she'll wake up when mommy comes home; we might as well wait until then,"
"How long did I sleep?" he asked.
"About three hours,"
"Fuck, I felt like a barely blinked,"
"Yeah, that'll happen when you're sleep deprived; honestly, Sasuke, you either need to get a nanny or some guards, and I know which job you'd do better," she mocked.
"Sakura doesn't want us hiring anyone like that," he admitted, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"What, why? It'd make her life easier too, wouldn't it?" she asked, seeming genuinely confused.
"She doesn't like the idea of another woman in the house, or anyone that Sarada might bond with more than her. Us," he quickly corrected.
"Seriously? She's so worried about the kid liking someone better that she won't let another adult bond with her? Green-eyed bitch," she remarked casually, flinching only slightly and giving an impish smile at Sasuke's response.
"Karin! Do not insult my wife like that," he demanded in a sharp whistle.
"Sorry, that was a little far; you're right. Where is she anyway?"
"The hospital, probably; they apparently can't get by without her," he grumbled, struggling not to fall back to sleep.
"Damn. Do you know when she'll be home?"
"No," he replied plainly, not liking the happy hum she replied with.
"Well, you want to show me where her crib is; see if I can set her down quiet?" she asked, taking his standing as an answer. It wasn't a long walk, but the trial was far harder than Karin would have admitted. Her focus was as sharp as any life-or-death battle as she helped float the baby down into the ornate crib, Sasuke hovering over her shoulder the whole way.
She succeeded though!
The last vestiges of light had vanished from the home by the time the chore was done. The hall they stepped out into was dark and dominated by flickering shadows. Karin kept close as the door to the nursery was gently shut, looking up at the man of the house, the man she was alone with.
The man who'd fucked her stupid more times than she could count out on the road.
"So… what should we do now?" Karin asked, daring to even place her index finger on his chest, slowly scratching down his torso until he had the strength of will to grip her wrist.
"Now, you should go," he insisted.
"Is that really what you want me to do? Really Sasuke~" she asked, eyes widening in that damn smug stare, that one she seemed to be so damned fond of since the first time he took her up on an offer to share a tent.
She loved reminding him that he was attracted to her and that she knew it quite well.
"Yes, go now," he lied.
None the less, he was relieved beyond words when she obeyed him, turning around and disappearing down the hall. His mind was a mess. The arrival of his old flame hadn't gone at all as he expected; he'd gotten some rest, and yet somehow he was even more uneasy now.
He had to talk to Sakura.
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