[Naruto AU, angst, comfort]

"I don't know what to do anymore... This was a bad idea from the start."

"No, it wasn't. I mean..." Sasuke muttered, "you had good intentions."

"So you're not denying anything?!"

"No, no, Sakura..."

Sakura climbed weakly out of her bed and tried to stand on her own.

"Hey, hey, you shouldn't be getting out." Sasuke ran to her side, took her hand, and pulled her back to the bed.

"No, I need to keep up my strength." Sakura strained, "Sasuke, please..."

"The answer is no, Sakura. You need to take it carefully." he sighed, "come on, I'll stay with you."

"I know." She laughed as she sat back down, "you have no idea how hemmed in I feel, staying inside like this for such a long time."

"Yeah, well." Sasuke grabbed her and pulled her closer to him, "at least you're being hemmed in with me, right?"

"S-Sasuke!" Sakura laughed as she tried to get away from him, but he only pulled her tighter against him.

They wrestled for a good few minutes before he had her pinned underneath him, "now, you'll go to sleep or I'll just have to punish you."

"You don't scare me," Sakura smirked.

Sasuke moved down so his lips grazed her ear, "are you testing me?"

"Maybe."

"That's a big mistake, young lady."

"Hey, don't forget I'm still older than you." Sakura corrected him as he scoffed.

"I don't like to admit it."

She laughed as Sasuke leaned in and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back until she leaned back to look at him.

Sasuke noticed her behavior, "is something wrong?"

"It's just..." Sakura ran her fingers through his hair, "I'm worried about Sarada."

"She'll be fine." Sasuke reassured her, "Karin's been doing a good job of taking care of her and from here..." He stopped when he suddenly saw her eyes go glossy, "Sakura, we warned you..."

"I know..."

Sasuke wiped her eyes and leaned down to lie next to her, his forehead resting on her head and his arm wrapped around her, "so what are you going to do?"

"Well..." Sakura stared up at the ceiling, "I supposed there's nothing I can do..."

"But there is." Sasuke muttered, "she's been wanting to meet Sakura Haruno for the longest time. Not as her mom, though."

"That's not really something we should risk. If she already feels drawn to me, then that's already a bad sign."

"I guess so..." Sasuke sighed as he inhaled deeply, "did you take a bath?"

"I did." She smiled, "you apparently haven't done that yet."

"Because I'm here with you." he spoke softly, "how are your chakra reserves? Do you feel any weaker? Any stronger?"

"Too many questions..."

"I know." Sasuke moved closer to her and hugged her tighter, "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For putting you through all this."

"Hey, it's not on you." She turned her head to face his, "I'm the one who put myself through this plan and even did what I did in the Ninja War. This isn't your place to apologize, especially since you and Karin are taking care of my daughter for me."

"Heh. Well, what else can we do for you?"

"There's nothing more." Sakura smiled, "except go out there and convince Sarada to live a normal life without worrying about who I am or who Karin is. Karin is her mom through love, it's not only genetics."

"But even so." Sasuke continued, "you're her biological mom. She has a right to know."

They were silent a little while more before Sasuke moved his hand to cradle her stomach.

"Sakura..."

"I'm sorry, I'm..." Sakura sighed, "I'm feeling a little weaker than the last time we did it... Not today. I'm sorry."

Sasuke cursed under his breath as he buried his face in her hair and groaned, "I'm dying..."

"Hey, you shouldn't be one to talk, you pervert. Be patient." Sakura laughed.

Just as Sasuke moved to kiss her again, the door swung open.

"Idiot!" Sasuke sat up, "don't you knock?!"

"Sorry..." A very frazzled and out-of-breath Naruto stood at the door, "Sasuke... It's Sarada... She's back at my office with a lot of questions... She's even making threats. You might want to get over here."

"You've got to be kidding me..." Sasuke muttered, "this child."

"Wait, Sasuke."

He turned to his wife, who'd grabbed his arm before he could leave.

"Remember. Nothing."

"Okay." He took her hand, kissed it, then quickly ran to meet the Shadow Clone that Naruto had sent out at their bedroom doorway, "I'll be right back, okay?"

Sakura nodded with a small smile, "Mhm."

"I'll send Karin over here, just in case." Sasuke paused. Just as he turned to leave, he quickly turned back to Sakura, ran to her side, grabbed her hand, and kissed her.

"Ech..." The Shadow Clone quickly vanished at the sight.

Sasuke's eyes stared into hers as they slowly parted, "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Sasuke watched her as he finally shut the door behind him, leaving Sakura in the hideout as he made his way to their house.

"Karin!" Sasuke ran in, "Karin, I need you to go watch Sakura!"

"What?" Karin stepped into the doorway, "Sasuke, what's"

"No time to explain. I need to go find Sarada."

With that, Karin quickly left for the hideout as Sasuke continued on to the Hokage's office. He prepared himself to answer a wave of questions that his daughter had regarding him, Karin, and Sakura.

Sakura's getting even worse, I can tell... I swear if anything happens to her while I'm gone... Sasuke glanced back in the direction of the hideout as he continued past the village Shinobi. In under a minute, Sasuke burst through the door leading to Naruto's office, "Sarada!"

He froze.

Naruto and Shikamaru were standing in front of the young girl, horrified just as much as Sasuke was. The moment she turned to face him, he saw her Sharingan blazing, rimmed with tears.

"Papa!" She yelled, "why did you lie to me?!"

"Sasuke..." Shikamaru swallowed hard, "you haven't..."

Naruto shook his head, "Sarada, it's not your father's fault."

"How can you say that, Lord Seventh?!" She turned to the Hokage, "you knew about this too, how could you keep something as important as my own biological mother from me?!"

"She had her reasons!" Sasuke set his hand on her shoulder, bit his lip, then looked away, "she's not..."

"She's not what?!"

Sasuke knelt on one knee to meet her gaze, "she's not doing well."

"How could I know that I've never met her?!"

"You don't know that." Naruto interrupted, "she's been with you since birth, and never wanted to leave your side. But she just did what was best for you."

"Best for me?! I don't know who I can trust anymore! You've all kept this from me, there's nothing you can do now to change my mind!"

"What if." Sasuke looked intently at her, "what if I took you to your Mama and you can ask her yourself. This was all because of her, and I know you'll wish I hadn't when I do." Sarada was silent. Naruto and Shikamaru looked at each other. Sasuke waited patiently for her answer, then sighed, "I wasn't supposed to do this. She wanted me to keep this a secret for as long as I could before she--"

"So she hated me?"

"It wasn't like that." Sasuke's tone rose a little, "I'll take you to her myself, then you can see why we did what we did. Just give me until tomorrow morning, I need to talk to her first."

Sarada wiped her eyes, "yeah, whatever." She walked right past him and out the door without another word. 

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