First Steps
xxredemption-love-and-liesxx

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Sarada was now eleven months old. She was a happy child, smiling at her parents and friends. Strangers did not often get those smiles, but she still was adorable. Her hair was short, clipped to the side so her raven bangs fall down onto her face. Her onyx eyes were large and bright, and she was basically the female version of her father. Heck, she sometimes had a temper like him.

The little girl crawled around, cooing and 'ah'ing at everything and anything. She was picking up toys, sticking them in her mouth and sucking on them for a moment before dropping them. Toys scattered the lounge room, and she was under the watchful eye of her papa. It was his go to baby sit his daughter.

Times when he was home, he would often look after the Uchiha child, and he sure as hell was happy to. Mama was at work, and she often had majority of the day off when Papa leaves. Of course, that does not mean that her mother does not have her days off when her papa was home, and today was such a day.

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She was sleeping on the couch; looking as beautiful as always in Sasuke's eyes. He, as weird as it was, loved watching her sleep. And it just reminded him that he had his family again. Besides, he was protective of his princess and his queen. He needed them. As much as they needed him.

He knew that his wife loved him, so, so much. And honestly, he could not do a thing without her love. Not anymore. She was his light, his saving grace. While Naruto brought him home, she—as well as Sarada—kept him there. He knew it was nearly time for his travelling to cease to only missions. He wanted to be there for his daughter and wife, and he did not want to miss out on the important aspects of her life. Such as walking and talking, and heck, being able to chew food properly.

Sasuke did not want to be like his father; the father that was never around.

While Sakura understood why he left, he still felt rather upset when his daughter does not seem to recognise him when he returns from lengthy trips. It has happened twice. Sakura had said that it was because babies do not tend to remember things. He knew that was a lie, and that Sakura had tried to make him feel better about the whole situation; and while he thanked her for the way that she tried to make him feel happy, it still hurt.

A lot.

The man's gaze was fixated on his daughter who was crawling on her hands and knees, reaching for a plush, green dinosaur. As she reached the toy, she face-planted.

Sasuke nearly shot right out of his chair to go and help his little girl, but she let out a gurgle and gripped the green dinosaur in her hands and giggled.

'Resilient child,' Sasuke thought, sighing to himself, allowing his body to relax on the chair once more.

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Green eyes fluttered open as she heard playful giggling and laughter from right in front of her. She turned her head and looked over to see Sasuke playing with the green dinosaur, and Sarada making noises with the toy cars. Sasuke grinned and let out a small growling noise, that made Sarada drop the toys and clap her hands together.

Sakura watched silently, not wanting to ruin this rare scene from the Uchiha patriarch. She allowed her breathing to become similar to a pattern of that of a sleeping person, and her chakra dimmed. She grasped her shirt, and finally let out a wail of laughter when Sasuke made the most obnoxious face.

Sasuke, like a frightened cat, jumped slightly. He glanced over at her, a slight glare in his dark eyes. He then smirked to himself, and shook his head. He handed the green dinosaur back to his daughter.

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Sakura froze when he stood up and walked to her. He lifted her head, and sat down, before allowing her head to rest on his lap. He combed his fingers through her hair, and watched Sarada continue playing. She eventually gave up with her toys, and crawled to the couch. She gripped onto the sides, and heaved herself up.

Sasuke and Sakura watched, to see what she would do. The little girl staggered as she moved away from the couch, but ultimately, collapsed.

Sakura, like the worried mother she is, was about to dart away from the comfortable lap she was laying on, but Sasuke had a grip against her arm. She looked over at him, alarmed, and was about to demand him to let her go. But he placed a finger on her lips and shook his head.

He pointed over to Sarada, who was already leaning on the dark couch once more. Again, she pushed away, only to fall on her butt.

Her little eyebrows became a scowl, and she stood up again, trying.

A few more times of this, and Sarada had not cried out or complained when she fell.

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"Sakura," the Uchiha patriarch glanced down at his wife, she was watching her daughter (like he was) closely, "I think… she might be able to do it today."

Sakura glanced up at him, "You think?"

"Hn," he grunted, nodding his head, "She's… not giving up."

"She's been around Naruto too much then," Sakura said, covering her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

"As long as she doesn't say that stupid catchphrase of his," Sasuke said, "or smell like ramen… that dobe won't be dead."

The roseate rolled her eyes at this, "As if you'd be able to kill him."

"I would," Sasuke said, "if he even thinks about setting up mini-dobe and my princess."

"Okay," Sakura laughed, "I'd join you on that one!"

"Thought so," the Uchiha muttered, burying his nose in her soft locks.

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"Goo…" Sarada stood up, reaching for the couch for the umpteenth time.

She gripped the material in her tiny fists and pulled away, swaying slightly. She knew how it was supposed to work. She lifted her right foot, and dropped it. She took another, and heard her parents gasp. But she ignored them. Two more steps like this, and she fell, well, to be caught by her father.

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Sasuke stopped talking and watched his princess once more. She was trying. Again. She gripped onto the couch and turned around, leaning on it. She took one step; Sasuke's mouth dropped and he was unable to stop his gasp. It seemed to be the same with his wife, it seemed.

She took a few more, before nearly falling down. Sakura was sitting up, and Sasuke caught his daughter before she landed onto the carpet again.

Sakura was watching with shock before she darted over to Sasuke, she crouched down, and kissed her daughter's cheek. Sarada let out more coos, while Sasuke gripped her close.

"Sasu—Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, tears welling up in her eyes, "Sara-chan—she just!"

"I know," the Uchiha said, bring Sakura into his hug, "I told you."

Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and cuddled into Sasuke. He had his bandaged arm wrapped around his wife's waist, and he was holding Sarada by his real one. He knew how to hold his daughter with one-hand since, well, it took him a while to trust the prosthetic one.

"I know, I know," Sakura sighed, kissing Sasuke's cheek, "I still can't believe it."

"I can."

Sakura blinked at him, clearly confused.

"She's our daughter, after all," he said, not looking over at her.

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Sarada was sucking on her fist, not understanding the words being spoken by her parents. She watched the both of them, and watched as her mama started crying furiously. Sarada frowned. She was about to start crying herself from seeing her mama cry, but she started smiling, and leaning into her papa.

Papa was smirking lightly, and he allowed Sarada to sit up now. But she did not move, no. She studied her parents and watched as her papa wrapped his arms around her mama.

Mama was giggling and laughing, and hiccupping.

As more tears came, Papa brushed his thumb against her cheek and kissed her tears away.

Sarada let out a gurgle and a giggle, feeling Mama pick her up this time, and hug her. While she did not understand the words her Mama spoke, she still felt rather loved.

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Sasuke cradled his wife for a moment, feeling slightly guilty for her tears, but when she smiled he knew it was fine. He hurriedly wiped them away with his real arm, watching as she grinned up at him.

The Uchiha glanced down at his child, and saw a pout form on her face before she started laughing as well.

Sasuke was slightly confused, but brushed it off as nothing.

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"She—She's walking!" Sakura said, her laughter spilling into her talking.

"Ah," Sasuke grunted, watching as his wife picked up Sarada.

Sakura pulled her daughter close. She was so proud of Sarada, and what Sasuke had just said had left her a pool of tears. He really did not know much his words affected her, did he?

Either way, she was still really happy for the moment.

She kissed her daughter's forehead.

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"I love you."

Both of the Uchihas said, and their little girl let out a coo in agreement.

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fin

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So, let's just keep on giving out fluffy-fluffiness on a daily basis, huh? Like seriously. I should be writing angst or a longer FF, but I'm enjoying this fluffiness so much. By the way, I'm not that great with babies... or how they walk, so sorry about that. Also, I haven't had a kid myself so I'm really unsure as to how parents would react to their child reacting.

Also, I had to ask Mum when babies start walking... and I kind of went by when my little brother walked, so yeah.

I might do one where she starts to talk next, and I guess that'd be a sequel. If I do, I might call this series 'Firsts', so if anyone wants that, then please do tell. Of course, this might have m-rated content later on from SSs' side *winks*. But yeah, I have some for the Uchiha family, of course, and for Sasuke and Sakura themselves.

But please tell me what you think of that, and I'll get to writing the next part as soon as I can.