Blossom

Chapter Six: Family Troubles

She was quiet as they ate dinner. Her head remained down, and she barely spoke. The only noise that filled the room were the scraping sounds of their forks against their plates. Hinata glanced at Sarada sadly, she waited for the young girl to at least look up and ask for an extra portion of the lasagna but she barely touched the food on her plate.

"Is something wrong?" Sasuke asked, finally putting his iPad down. He finished before the both of them but remained at the table as he worked.

"Nothing." Sarada mumbled, dropping her fork and pushing her plate away. "I'm not hungry anymore." She got down from her chair and walked out of the dining room.

Hinata's eyes followed her until she was out of sight. "I think we need to talk." She turned to Sasuke and frowned.

"About?"

"There's no way you don't realize how upset she is." She picked up their plates. She packed away the remainder of the food, leaving Sarada's in the microwave in case she changed her mind later.

"I know she's upset, but why is that?" He cleaned the table as she took care of the kitchen. Sasuke threw out the paper towel sheets he used and leaned against the fridge whilst she washed the dishes. "Did something happen today? During your appointment?"

"I think more than one thing happened. Her lunch with Sakura was cut short and...Sarada isn't too pleased about having a sibling."

"I imagine a lot of children might feel that way." He crossed his arms.

"You're right but..."

"But?"

"She's really upset about it. She misses Sakura, she misses having her mother to herself and she's scared that it would get worse once the baby is born." She closed the tap and rested her hand on the edge of the sink. "Have you two spoken to her about it?

"We have briefly."

"And her response?"

"She seemed excited."

"Was she excited to not worry you both? Sarada gets emotional whenever there's any mentions about another baby, and it's not the positive sort of emotional. She's cried twice to me about it. Today, she didn't even listen to what I had to say. I think you need to talk to her, seriously."

"I will."

"Please talk to Sakura as well. She needs to reaffirm that she's not going to forget Sarada." Hinata gave him a tight smile and left him standing in the kitchen.

Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through his hair. All this time, he's been so caught up with his work that he forgot to check in on how Sarada was doing. She was always happy around him, it had slipped his mind to see how she felt about everything. The last time they had a conversation about a potential sibling was when Sakura had brought it up while they ate breakfast.

Back then, Sarada was happy about it.

Hearing that she wasn't anymore, it upset him. If he had to take his guesses, it might have been because she felt out of place. He was busy sometimes, Sakura was busy all the time. There was no place for her to really fit in, and the thought of there being another person added that could make that feeling amplify might have scared her.

They were such bad parents.

Sasuke knocked on her bedroom door and waited for a few seconds before opening it. She sat at her desk, her pillows and blankets scattered on the floor with her books. Her head was down much like it was when she ate dinner.

"Hey." He sat down on her bed. "Do you want to talk about what you're feeling?"

He wasn't the most emotionally intelligent person, but he didn't want Sarada to grow up the way he did. She was young, she had a lot of years in front of her, he didn't want her future to be shadowed by her inability to comprehend how she was feeling.