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Sasuke looked at his 10-month old daughter, Sarada wobbling around the room in unsteady steps. His little girl was growing up so fast. He could swear that he held her tiny body in his arms a few days back. Now his sweet, little princess was walking around with her inquisite gaze fixed on him. Although, Sarada had his colours, yet he could see Sakura in her. The sheer determination in her dark eyes, similar to his own, was all Sakura. He smiled at the thought of his wife. Such an annoying woman to have invaded his thoughts.
His mental tirade was broken when Sarada was successful in climbing his lap and started babbling. She had started speaking few words, Papa being one of them. He saw her playing with a green dinosaur which was his previously. He remembers Itachi bringing it to him when he was five years old. How that stuffed dinosaur survived after everything was beyond his understanding. He ruffled Sarada's short locks of dark hair and placed a kiss on top of her head. She lifted her head curiously and smiled a toothy grin, which again made her look like Sakura. Looking her smile made his heart warm. He was still trying to believe that he finally had a beautiful wife and an adorable daughter.
Sakura.
What an annoying woman.
Since he was a genin, he knew that he had a soft spot for Sakura. He knew that she was different from his other fangirls when he saw her swollen face, short, ragged hair and her attempts to protect him during their failed Chunin Exam. The rage he felt towards the boy who had hurt Sakura was beyond anything. He felt useless that he couldn't protect her against the enemy team.
Unbeknownst to anyone, except Kakashi (that man had the eyes of a hawk), he always noticed her. As a 12 year old girl, she wasn't much strong but that wasn't the only reason why he tried protecting her. He belonged to a shinobi clan so he knew the horrors of the shinobi life and Sakura belonged to a civilian clan. She didn't see much dangers of their profession. He tried looking for her as long as he could.
He would never admit to anyone but he actually liked it when Sakura gave her full attention to him when they were genins. He felt a sadistic pleasure knowing that Naruto would never have Sakura's affections the same way he did. He appeared to be uncaring from the outside, but sometimes he relished in the fact that someone was out there caring for him (even if that certain someone always asked him out on dates which he rejected). During missions, when everyone thought that that we was fast asleep when in reality he wasn't, he would look at Sakura beside him.
He felt a sense of pride whenever Sakura would decipher codes or battle strategies in minutes. He admitted long time back, that Sakura was much more intelligent than him. Her intelligence almost rivalled with that of a Nara. She had the book smarts even as a child and scored the highest grades during their academy days. As a nine-year old child, when he had found out that she was the one who got the highest grades, he looked at her and instantly knew that she didn't have any shinobi backgrounds. He kindof envied her intelligence at that time.
When he had seen her three years after his defection from Konoha, he was shocked to see that it was the same Sakura but a much stronger one. He had heard from his sources that Sakura was apprenticing under Tsunade and was studying medical jutsu and taijutsu from her. Also, he had heard that she had defeated Akasuna No Sasori with the help of a Suna woman. He could never get over the fact that he had tried killing her twice even though he knew that Sakura had forgiven him a long time back.
After returning to Konoha and facing his trials, he finally wanted to reciprocate Sakura's feelings. He was blind to her feelings in search of revenge before that. When he had found that she was dating a chunin all those years back, he was jealous and confronted them. The chunin almost paled to death and broke up with her the next day when he realized that his competition was against the Uchiha Sasuke. After convincing Sakura for three months, he was able to secure a date with her. He tied the knot with her a year later. He couldn't look away from her when she was walking down the aisle in her traditional attire.
He always looked at her.
He came back to the world of consciousness when he heard the door of their house closing. He realized that he had fallen asleep on the couch while holding Sarada protectively against his chest. The green, stuffed dinosaur was left unattended on the ground. He finally let go of her carefully without waking her up and went to the door.
"Tadaima, Sasuke-kun."
And once again, Sasuke was left breathless seeing her smile. She had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was greasy yet she was looking like the most beautiful woman to him.
He went to give her a one-armed hug and whispered, "Okaerinasai."
Sakura relaxed against him and went to take a shower while he went to prepare the dinner.
He was to glad to be with his family.
END