"I don't want her to ever fear me," Sakura whispered, all of a sudden and out of nowhere, as Sasuke settled on his side of the bed that night.

He froze, on the mattress as he was, one of his hands still gripping the bedsheets, looking over his shoulder at her in complete and utter confusion. "What?"

Sakura sighed and turned to face him, green eyes finding his as she slipped a hand under her pillow. "I don't want her to ever fear me," she repeated softly.

Sasuke frowned. "What are you saying? Of course she won't fear you." He tried to figure out where this could be coming from, and his eyes narrowed when he thought he had. "Is this about the dobe? Because you know he's a moron."

Sakura had sent Naruto running out of their house earlier in the week because he'd broken one of Sasuke's ribs during training—and, as much as she usually wouldn't be the slightest bit bothered by the idea that she was, sometimes, frightening to people, ever since she became pregnant, Sasuke hadn't been very certain of the grounds they stood on when it came to her emotions.

"No," she murmured. "It's not about Naruto. I don't want her to ever avoid me, either."

His frown deepened as his confusion escalated, but, reassured by the fact that she was only being introspective and not outright hurt, the Uchiha finally allowed himself to settle down beside her, resting his head on his own pillow and his concerned eyes on hers.

"I don't want her to ever feel that she can't come to me and talk to me—about anything. I don't want to ever not have an answer to one of her questions. And, God, I don't want her to ever cry if I'm not there to comfort her."

"…Where is all this coming from, Sakura?" he asked, gently, placing a hand over the dip of her waist.

She sighed, briefly turning her gaze to the ceiling. "I don't know. I just… I want to be a good mother… But I'm afraid I don't know how to do that. So, I was thinking that, maybe… maybe it would be a better idea to focus on not being… a bad mother."

Sasuke scoffed. "You could never be a bad mother."

"You don't know that," she insisted, green eyes returning to his—wide and beautiful and so damn serious.

He heaved an exasperated sigh.

"I'm serious, Sasuke," she voiced. She placed a hand on his cheek, shifted closer—and it didn't take him another second to realize that this wasn't the hormones talking; this was Sakura.

Placing his hand on top of hers, he turned his head and pressed a kiss to her palm. A moment passed before he moved his, settling it on the small bump hidden beneath the silk of her nightgown.

Sakura had been pregnant for a little over four months now. He'd gone to checkups, dealt with mood-swings, marveled at tiny onesies, and picked colors and furniture to go in the nursery right across the hall from their bedroom. Two weeks before, Sakura had come home with a pair of little pink booties and told him he was going to have a daughter. He lied in bed with her, night after night, and spent hours brushing his fingers, in the gentlest of movements, against her swollen abdomen. He hadn't yet felt his daughter kick, yet he thought he couldn't love her more.

It was unlike anything he'd ever experienced, this feeling. This unconditional love, mixed with fear, mixed with protectiveness, mixed with such unadulterated happiness that it almost made him dizzy.

And, in light of all that and every single step of the way, he'd be a liar if he tried to claim he didn't worry. Because, if there was anything that Sasuke did perfectly well when it came to his loved ones, that was worry.

"…I don't want her to ever feel as if she had to prove herself. In anything," he whispered softly.

Sakura's smile brightened. "Me neither."

He swallowed heavily. Hesitated. In reality, there were two things that had him tossing and turning the night he found out Sakura was pregnant. Did the hundreds of small, everyday aspects of life that would be turned upside down the moment this baby arrived into the world not scare him? Oh, they did. They scared the crap out of him. But, it seemed, not as much as they scared Sakura.

Perhaps the reason behind that was simple. Perhaps it was because he had her, and he could rest safely in the knowledge that, come hell or high water, she would know what to do. Everything related to showing kindness was something that Sakura was a natural at, and motherhood would be no different. Obviously, she didn't feel the same way about him, and that was understandable. She was amazing. He was… well, himself.

Or, perhaps, the reason behind that was another. Perhaps his mind was already too busy whirring with his two most important things to even consider others.

"I…" He paused. Swallowed again. Fixed his gaze on his hand, lying on Sakura's abdomen. His voice was barely a whisper when he finally said it. "I want her to know about Itachi."

Sakura's hand on his cheek made him look up. "I was thinking about that, too," she confessed in a murmur. Her green eyes were sad, but encouraging—the way they always were where his family was concerned.

Sasuke huffed, redirecting his line of sight towards his hand. He splayed out his fingers and wondered if his daughter would ever see him with the same eyes once she found out what he'd done to the person who'd loved him most in the entire world.

As usual, Sakura's voice pulled him away from the edge of the pit of darkness spreading out before him, always there, always ready to swallow him whole and drown him. "Promise me you won't ever let me get away with not running to her side when she's crying."

He blinked. The idea was so ridiculous, so entirely incompatible with the concept he had of his wife, that his mind simply refused to register it.

The confusion must have shown on his face, because she explained. "She'll be crying a lot. She'll be loud and fussy and maybe some days I won't know how to soothe her. And maybe I'll be tired and frustrated and hormonal, and maybe my heart will be breaking because I won't be able to calm her down. And maybe I'll want to close my eyes and pretend I don't hear her. And you have to not let me do that. Ever."

The corners of his lips quirking upwards, Sasuke consented. "I promise."

"I mean it," she felt the need to insist. "We can't be those kind of parents."

"I promise," he answered, letting his smile show. "Our baby won't ever cry and not be comforted."

The tension seemed to leave her body. "Okay."

Now bemused, Sasuke couldn't help but ask, "Anything else?"

Sakura bit her lip. "If I'm ever mad at her, for whatever reason… you'll have to tell me if I'm being irrational. You're good at that."

He chuckled. "Okay."

"Okay." A moment passed in silence, before she smiled in satisfaction. "I think that's it."

"Okay."

Shifting, he reached behind him to turn off the bedside lamp, leaving moonlight to light the bedroom. Sakura turned and settled on her side, facing the window. Sasuke buried his head in her shoulder and wrapped a protective arm around her waist, hand immediately finding her bump.

"I might write this stuff down," she murmured lazily as she traced sleepy patterns on his arm.

"And publish a book?" he jibed, eyes closed and every muscle of his body relaxed.

She shrugged. "I'm already a published author. Maybe it's your turn."

Sasuke snorted. "Funny."

She giggled.

Minutes passed in silence. Sakura's body lotion smelled of flowers; she was warm and pliable and reassuring, and his eyes were heavy… Would his daughter have her green eyes? Would she have her smile? Would she be as kind?

Sasuke's eyes snapped open as an unwanted train of thought flashed through his mind. "Sakura," he called.

"Hmm?" she answered—sleepily. But there was no trace of sleep left in his system.

"No boys," he barked. "Ever."

Sakura started to laugh.

"You find it funny," he hissed. "I don't." He had a feeling he was more serious about this than he'd been when he'd talked about Itachi—and that wasn't really a statement the Uchiha made lightly or often.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun…" she snorted. "It's just…"

"You can laugh, I don't care," he said, sitting up on one elbow. "But if you expect me to tell you when you're being irrational—with the known risk of you breaking my nose or a rib or any bone, really—then I expect you to back me up on this."

Giggling, Sakura turned, rising to press a kiss to his cheek—then his chin, then his lips, mollifying his tense figure. "Of course, Sasuke-kun," she promised, still grinning, lips still brushing against his own with the words. "Of course."

Date: o4/o8/2o16

A/N: So, hi. So, I've been gone forever. So, I started to work on Heartbeat and felt rusty as hell, so I thought I'd try my hand out at something else, hopefully recover my writing skills, and THEN write Heartbeat. Coz we all want a high quality chapter.

Hope you've enjoyed! If so, leave me a review and tell me what I need to improve on, coz clearly, I do. Thankies! :)

P.S. Changed my username due to (probably) obvious reasons.