"Oh, Sakura, she's beautiful." Mebuki smiled, ignoring her tears as she cradled her granddaughter. "And she has so much hair."

Beside her, Kizashi chuckled. "When you were born, you only had a little tuft of blonde hair," he added. "Well, we thought it was blonde at the time but it was so light, it was hard to tell what colour it was."

He reached down to stroke his granddaughter's head, crowned with dark hair clearly inherited from her father. Uchiha Ryoko was fast asleep, oblivious to the hushed conversation around her.

"The Uchiha genes are dominant," Sakura remarked, before she smirked at Itachi. "I wonder what your father would say if she had pink hair."

"I think he'd be delighted," Itachi said dryly.

"Oh, Kizashi, I'm being so selfish," Mebuki said suddenly. "Itachi, your parents haven't even met her yet."

"We'd better give them a chance then," Kizashi said, looking reluctantly at Ryoko before he came to Sakura. He leant down to hug her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I love you, Sakura. Let us know if you need any help, we'd be more than happy to help."

"Thanks, Dad." Sakura squeezed his hand before her mother came over, nestling Ryoko carefully in her arms. Mebuki kissed her cheek and gave her a gentle hug, her face still tearstained.

"Rest well, Sakura," Mebuki said gently. "You too, Itachi."

"Thanks for coming to visit," Sakura said. Her parents hugged Itachi and said their own farewells to him.

"You'll have trouble keeping us away now," Kizashi said jokingly, but the longing look he gave his granddaughter spoke volumes. "We'll be off, then."

While Itachi walked them outside, Sakura readjusted herself in the chair and took the opportunity to have another cuddle with her daughter. She was still snug in her blankets and content to stay asleep – for now.

The door opened quietly, and Itachi stepped aside to let his family in. All eyes were immediately on Sakura and the baby in her arms. Mikoto covered her mouth with her hands as tears welled in her eyes. Her husband was as impassive as ever, but Sakura thought she knew him well enough to detect the softening of his expression.

"This is Ryoko," she said quietly. "Born perfectly healthy at 2.5 kilograms." She smiled at Mikoto, whose eyes were more than wet, and asked, "Do you want to hold her?"

In a flash, her mother-in-law was beside her, scooping Ryoko up as easily as she would have done with her own sons many years ago. "Oh, she's lovely," Mikoto breathed, and spent the next few minutes crooning compliments to her. Behind her, Sasuke peered over her shoulder to observe his niece, an odd mixture of uncertainty and curiosity marring his face. Mikoto glanced at him amusedly. "Sasuke, do you want to hold her?"

"Hn," was all he managed before Mikoto was handing Ryoko over, deftly arranging his arms around her. The stiffness in his posture spoke volumes about his discomfort, but his eyes left her sleeping face.

"How does it feel to be an uncle, Sasuke?" Sakura teased.

"Weird. How does it feel to be a mother?" he shot back instantly.

"Exhausting," was her response, accompanied by a sigh. Itachi chuckled in agreement, stepping closer so he could smooth the hair away from her eyes.

"Alright, stop looking like you're about to spontaneously combust," he said, directing his words to Sasuke. "Let Father hold her."

With only mild flailing, Sasuke managed to pass Ryoko to Fugaku and then sat down heavily in a chair. "She's so… small."

"Good. Easier to birth," Sakura said smartly. Sasuke choked and glared at her accusatorily. "Just speaking the truth," she responded sweetly.

Mikoto laughed fondly. "You were bigger when you were born, Sasuke," she chided. "How are you feeling, Sakura?"

"Exhausted," she repeated, with a wan, but genuine smile. "I'm grateful that there were no complications during the pregnancy or the birth but having to deal with her now that she's finally here is…different."

"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it," Mikoto told her comfortingly. "It might take a couple of weeks to learn about her and what she wants, but you'll learn. And you parents, and Fugaku and I, will be around to help – you don't have to go through this alone."

Her words brought a teary smile to Sakura's face. "Thank you, I really appreciate that," she whispered. Itachi embraced his mother and murmured his thanks. "Who's holding her?"

"Father is," Sasuke answered.

Sakura looked up to see how her father-in-law was doing. As usual, his expression was stoic, but – and her jaw dropped at the sight – there were tears streaming down his face. Not just one or two happy tears, but a veritable river was pouring down his cheeks. There was no sound – not even a sniffle – but his shoulders were trembling silently at the effort of holding it all in. All the while, Ryoko slept securely in his arms, blissfully unaware of her grandfather's emotional turmoil.

The entire Uchiha family gaped at him. Mikoto was the first to recover. "Dear, what's wrong?"

It took a few moments for the former clan head to compose himself. "Forgive me," he said finally, his voice thick. "I was… overcome. Congratulations to you both. She is beautiful." His last word came out as a choked whisper, and soon the tears were falling down his face again.

"Thank you for having us. Sakura, please don't hesitate to ask for any help. I'll be back tomorrow with some food."

"Thank you, Mikoto."

"Now, dear, we need to go. You should give Ryoko back before she wakes up."

"Father, please pass Ryoko to me. You can see her tomorrow."

"I never would have thought you were such a sap, Father." A pause. "Let me hold her."

this was originally supposed to be part of fairy floss but I decided to post it separately as it's more Uchiha fam fluff rather than ItaSaku fluff.

thank you for all the lovely reviews you have all left, and I hope you are all safe and healthy ❤

(p.s. Ryoko is named after a SI/OC from my favourite PMMM/Madoka Magica fanfic called To The Stars - highly recommend if you enjoy intricate, complex stories and A++ worldbuilding, even if you haven't seen the anime)

alternate summary:

Sakura/Itachi: here's our new baby!

literally everyone in Konoha: 😍😍😍😭😭😭