𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄 | sasuke uchiha

73

"Madara-sama is not home at the moment."

"I don't care, we're not here to see him."

"Please, he allowed Sarada and I to visit [Name] while she was still pregnant," pleaded Sakura, cutting off Sasuke before he could make the situation worse for them. The guards in front of [Name] and Madara's home frowned, unsure of whether or not to grant the family entrance to pay [Name] and her newborn child a visit. "Surely it still extends to now."

"Hmm. Well, he didn't explicitly instruct us not to let you in, so..."

Sakura beamed at the guards as she readjusted Sarada's weight in her arms, rushing past the guards as they opened the gate for her. Behind her, Sasuke scowled at the pair as he trailed his wife to the front door, carrying a basket of goods she had specifically chosen to gift [Name] now that she was a mother.

"She must be in the room! Come!"

In all her excitement, Sakura threw off her shoes and dashed into the house without a second thought, leaving Sasuke to roll his eyes as he followed her in. With every movement he made, he felt butterflies in his stomach. He hadn't heard from [Name] in months, let alone seen her. Although he paid Akari well to give him updates on how she was doing at home, he could never be too certain. What if [Name]'s feelings towards Madara had changed recently?

"Sakura?!"

Sasuke chuckled as he heard [Name]'s surprised gasp, following Sakura into the Kouhage's bedroom as she threw the door open. He walked in to see [Name] sitting on her futon with her daughter latched onto her breast, feeding her while Yui gathered their dirty laundry and placed it into one pile.

They locked eyes, and it was then that Sasuke knew that nothing had changed.

"Yui, do you mind giving us a moment?" asked Sasuke directly, placing the basket at his feet and sitting in front of [Name]. The wizened midwife nodded and bowed towards her superior, gathering the laundry in her arms and heading out of the room.

"Just call me if you need anything, [Name]-sama."

"Thank you, Yui."

Sakura joined Sasuke on the ground with Sarada in her lap, who was now ogling the little bundle in [Name]'s arms.

"Kaa-chan... [Name] has a baby!" exclaimed the little girl incredulously, clasping both of her hands over her mouth as she gasped dramatically. Even Sasuke managed a small smile at Sarada's little quip, and looked up at [Name] with his head tilted.

"How are you?" he asked softly, reaching out and placing his hand on her knee. [Name] smiled weakly and returned her gaze to Sayuri, whose eyes were closed as she suckled on her mother.

"So tired," she sighed. "But still alive. Barely."

Sasuke frowned at the tired state [Name] was in, his concern for her growing by the second.

"Actually, Sakura... could you... could you fetch me some water from the kitchen?" asked the Uchiha solemnly, looking over at his wife as she watched Sayuri with pure affection in her eyes.

"Just call one of the servants," said [Name], looking towards the door. "Akari?"

The Haruno exchanged a brief look with her husband, before finally getting the hint and saying, "Oh! No, that's fine, [Name]-chan! Sarada, come with me, we need to get [Name] and Sasuke some drinks! What do you say?"

"Yes, kaa-chan!"

With unprecedented vigour, Sarada leapt to her feet as Sakura got up, following her mother out of the room with a bright smile and calling out, "Can I get [Name]'s water from their well, kaa-chan?!"