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The first to call him, or refer to him as 'Papa' was Sakura. This probably wouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knew them. But remembering it always made him smile.
He remembered when they first found out they were pregnant with Sarada.
They had been on their way to Tea Country, coming from Jiro Island where they've stayed for a few weeks to celebrate Sasuke's birthday (Sakura insisted).
It was morning then. They were in the forest where they've stayed for the night, and had just been packing their things so they could be on their way when they both felt it. That new, small but stable chakra coming from Sakura.
At around six weeks, they could already detect Sarada's chakra. It wasn't something just anyone would notice. It was too small, that it was overshadowed by Sakura's own chakra. But both of them were experts in detecting chakra, as well as very familiar with Sakura's. So it only took a second of it being slightly different that they knew. They understood.
They were going to be parents.
He remembered feeling a little detached at that moment. It felt so surreal to him He hadn't thought it would come to him so soon.
They had only married a few months before that. And he's been without a family for so long that it was just something foreign too him by then. Yes, he had Sakura. But even with his life with Sakura, he only had been sure of, just a few months prior. He had only started adjusting to that life, and yet here was another change. Here was another family member. This time, the product of his and Sakura's love.
It was overwhelming.
He only snapped out of his trance when he had noticed that Sakura had started crying.
He had been initially worried—he hated seeing her cry, especially when he had been the reason for it in the past a lot of times. But she reassured him that they were tears of joy. And that she was so thankful of him for giving him this gift.
He had thought then, and still, that it was the other way around. But, in that moment, he focused on calming his wife down and stopping her tears.
She didn't refer to him as Papa, however, until a few months after that—the first time she felt Sarada kicking.
They had been in an inn then, resting after a few hours of Sakura giving free medical consultations to the people of the town they were staying at.
She had pulled his hand then, and laid it on her tummy where she last felt their baby moved. And then, she started talking to her abdomen and introduced him to their baby as 'Papa.'
He remembered it had caught him a little off guard. He had always called his own father 'Otousama' or 'Otousan' and he remembers Sakura calling her own father 'Otousan,' as well.
But it made him smile in the next second because 'Papa' was very like Sakura. It was a title full of affection, and he surprisingly really liked it.
Throughout Sakura's pregnancy, she would use that to refer to him when talking to her bump. And after Sarada was born, she continued using it, and even calling him as such subconsciously, especially after Sarada started mumbling.
It was a title he was proud of more than any and all of the titles the people of Konoha and the rest of the world would give him—tied with being 'Sakura's husband' or Sakura calling him 'Anata.'
And it also became Sarada's second word; next to 'Mama,' of course. And by then it was something he wanted to keep.
He had let it slip to Sakura the night after Sarada first uttered it, as they talk before they slept, as they would by then routinely do so.
He told her how he knew that when Sarada is older, she would probably stop calling him that. And that it would be nice if it would last for a while.
And that was when Sakura shared with him about her relationship with her parents.
Of course, he had already known, while they were courting that Sakura's relationship with her parents wasn't the same as his own relationship to his parents, particularly to his mom. But he had never pried, and they had never really talked about it before then.
Sakura had looked vulnerable then. She told him, in a tone as if she was trying to defend herself, that she had always been grateful to her parents. That she knew they loved her, and she knew how lucky she was to still have her parents with her, with how many of her friends having lost one or both. She had smiled sadly at Sasuke then in acknowledgement.
She had even repeated that, before next confessing, guiltily, some of her resentments. She told him that even though her parents had provided her with her material needs, and had done their responsibilities as parents, they hadn't always been there for her emotionally. How when she was younger and she would come home with bruises from getting bullied, it had hurt her more to see her parents either didn't notice, or didn't care. And how it had hurt whenever her parents doubt her capabilities,.even after becoming Tsunade's apprentice. That it felt hard to even just feel like they were supporting her. It was something even their genin team didn't do to her.
It made him remorsefully think back on that fateful day when he first called her 'annoying'.
She had certainly been insensitive then, saying Naruto is lucky for not having parents. He had been irritated thinking about his own situation that he called her out on it, but with what she had shared to him then, he realized he also had been rather insensitive to her situation.
She wouldn't agree, but she was definitely better than him, reflecting on what they've exchanged in that moment, while here he was only understanding her then so many years after.
She then said that she wasn't sure if Sarada would stop calling them 'Mama' and 'Papa'. It was something likely, especially after she starts getting friends and she hears them referring to their parents differently. But she also wished their baby wouldn't stop. Because other than Sakura really liking the terms for them, it was also something she thought would differentiate her from her parents. Because even though she loves them, she really didn't want her and Sasuke to be that kind of parents to their daughter.
And Sasuke had nodded, thinking about his own father. To be perfecy honest, it was the same for him. He loves and respects his father—he had never stopped doing so, but it wasn't a secret that he did have some resentments to him when he was still alive.
He didn't blame his father, not really. He knew being the head of the clan, and especially during that chaotic political time, probably didn't let him be vulnerable enough to be a father to him. At least, the father he had needed.
Sasuke understands that, but he also didn't want to be that kind of father to Sarada. He wanted to be better. He wanted their child to know that she is loved and cherished, and that no matter what she does, he and Sakura would be proud of her. He never wanted her to feel the way he had felt when he was younger, always chasing his father or brother, for some kind of validation.
That night, they both wished to be the parents their child deserved.
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"Papa, hurry up!"
Sasuke smiles as Sarada pulls him, excited to spend the Parent-Child Day with him.
It had been twelve years since that talk with Sakura, and so far, it didn't seem like Sarada had any plans of calling them any other way.
Even after he had made mistakes as a father. Even after he had needed to leave them for a long time for his mission, and even after Sarada's misunderstandings about his and Sakura's relationship, Sarada still calls him, 'Papa.' And that felt reassuring to him.
Sarada still calls him that affectionately, so he must be doing something right. He is being a father to her. And he plans on doing much better now that he's back. He was determined to make it up to her, to give her no more doubts about his love for her and her mother.
And though it probably wasn't very important now. He probably wouldn't be bothered much it if their daughter would start calling them differently. Still, a part of him still hopes Sarada wouldn't. He hopes she would never stop calling him 'Papa.'
END