Summary: Itachi walked at nine months, he reminds himself with only a slight wince. He dimly remembers his mother telling him that once. And didn't Sakura's mother say she walked early as well?

Disclaimer: This story utilizes characters, situations and premises that are copyright Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Shonen Jump and Viz Media. No infringement on their respective copyrights pertaining to episodes, novelizations, comics or short stories is intended by the author in any way, shape or form. This fan oriented story is written solely for the author's own amusement and the entertainment of the readers. It is not for profit. Any resemblance to real organizations, institutions, products or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All fiction, plot and Original Characters with the exception of those introduced in the books, manga, video games, novelizations and anime, are the sole creation of KuriQuinn and using them without permission is considered rude, in bad-taste and will reflect seriously on your credibility as a writer. You will be bombarded with wooden shuriken if you are found plagiarizing.

Warning: Spoilers for pretty much everything up to Naruto Gaiden.

Canon-Compliance: Takes place during the Blank Period.

Fanon-Compliance: Takes place several years before An Inch of Gold and Unplanned.

AN: Based on a Friday Fic Request fon my tumblr that I decided to post here as well as it made it into the Legacy of Fire 'verse.

Sasuke maneuvers the hoover around the living room, thinking vaguely about whether it's possible to get an apparatus that handles better around the corners.

It's not a topic he ever would have considered worth contemplation, but these days his problems are more of a domestic nature than vengeance fueled ambition.

He's okay with that.

Especially given the fact his nine-month-old daughter is sitting on a blanket nearby, propped in a bean chair and playing with several wooden shuriken (dulled and rounded until they pass childproof muster, of course). She chats to herself in the usual smattering of actual words and toddler pidgin, all of which is neigh incomprehensible around the dummy in her mouth.

As he ambles past the low cabinet in the hall, absently picking up a few of Sarada's toys – blocks, a squishy book and a well-loved green dinosaur – he notices a piece of paper on top of the mail pile. It is covered with Sakura's neat writing and Naruto's almost illegible scrawl (honestly, he almost needs to use the Sharingan to decipher it).

Upon further inspection Sasuke sees it's the minutes of the last meeting of the clan elders, which Sakura attended for the Uchiha while he was out of town. There is a post-it attached, with a request from Kakashi to add anything he believes needs to be brought up.

With a sigh, Sasuke turns off the hoover and sits down heavily on the couch, frowning at the information. He is vaguely aware of Sarada moving about in his peripheral vision, but she's quiet and the room is babyproofed, so he focusses most of his attention on the current conundrum.

Naruto keeps inviting him to attend these conferences, even though it's clear no one in the village really wants to hear from him. And when they do, it's usually to prompt an answer about the ruins of the Uchiha district, which Sasuke honestly has no idea what to do about yet.

Naruto and Kakashi understand this, of course, as does Sakura. But not everyone in the village is quite so forgiving.

He hates the attention of the other clan leaders, and can't decide which is worse – the expectant looks on the faces of the younger ones, like Shikamaru or Ino, or the pitying gazes of those older leaders who actually knew members of his family.

It could be worse. The Elders could still be a factor…

He has Sakura to thank for that, at least.

Still, he lets his head fall back on the couch for a second, contemplating just how important it is for him to sit through another one of those stupid meetings –

When he realises that Sarada's mumbling is coming from the complete opposite direction from where she is sitting.

Peeking one eye open, he experiences a tiny heart-attack at the sight of her blanket utterly empty of the tiny pink body that should be sitting on it. Head whipping to where he heard her voice, he freezes when he sees her sitting in the entrance of the living-room, happily clutching at the dinosaur plushie.

Sasuke blinks, confused, wondering if he fell asleep at some point, because the distance from her blanket to the hall cabinet should have taken her longer to crawl toward, not to mention the dinosaur was higher up than she should be able to reach. Then again, Sarada has been pulling herself up on all the furniture lately…

He revisits the last few minutes, deciding he must be tired, because he can't remember the specifics of it. He can sort of recall the familiar sight of her dark head bobbing past his line of vision.

Which shouldn't be possible, because I wasn't looking down at the floor, which means she was just below eye-level.

She could only have done that if she walked across the room. Sasuke immediately dismisses that because she's barely ten months old, it's too early.

Itachi walked at nine months, he reminds himself with only a slight wince. He dimly remembers his mother telling him that once. And didn't Sakura's mother say she walked early as well?

Sasuke shakes his head. He is likely just jumping to conclusions.

Still, there's nothing stopping him from testing out the theory to be sure.

Quietly, he stands and goes to scoop Sarada into his arms. She giggles around the dummy, dropping the plush toy to pat at his face with pudgy hands (he narrowly misses taking a tiny nail to the Rinnegan and a thumb up his nose) as he brings her back to her spot on the blanket. After setting her down and handing her one of the toy shuriken to keep busy, he goes to pick up the fallen dinosaur, places it back on the cabinet, and then returns to the couch to sit.

But this time he intends to observe.

Not directly, of course, because there's truth in that old adage about watched pots. But he pretends to reread the memo again, only occasionally glancing at Sarada from the corner of his eyes.

At first, it seems as if she is perfectly content to just sit their banging her baby shuriken against the floor.

A few minutes later, however, her eyes flit across the room to the green dinosaur. A tiny wrinkle appears in her nose – a trait from Sakura – and she drops the shuriken. Then, to Sasuke's utter amazement, she rolls to one side and grabs at the nearby ottoman, using it to pull herself to her feet.

Still completely focused on the plush toy, she makes a beeline for the cabinet, absently grabbing on to the coffee table and easy chair as she goes. The last couple of steps from the couch to the entranceway, there is nothing to hold her up, and he watches with baited breath as she wobbles exactly three paces until reaching the cabinet. Now supported once more, she stretches up on tiptoes, worrying at the toy until her fingers close around one of its paws.

Then she falls backward with a satisfied grunt, the toy clutched in her fist.

Sasuke's brain is still trying to register what he just saw.

Because his daughter really did just take her first steps.

No. Her second steps.

He missed the first because he was reading a damned memo.

But he can't find the energy to chastise himself for this, because he is too buoyed up by the overwhelming feeling of pride.

Sarada just walked.

His daughter, the child he never thought he would deserve, is growing up so fast. Every time he turns around, she is doing something new and amazing and he sort of wants her to slow down –

But she just walked!

She's only nine months old, and clearly a genius. Like her mother, like him, like Itachi –

Boruto didn't start walking until he was a year old. Naruto is going to be pissed when he finds out.

He snorts in smug amusement at this, wandering back over to pick up his daughter once more, nudging her nose with his own and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"That's my girl," he tells her proudly, while she squeals in pleasure.

Although…

Naruto can't know about this until Sakura does. And when she finds out she missed Sarada's first steps, she'll be upset.

He wonders for a moment if he should pretend like nothing happened. It would be a simple thing, to say nothing and just wait for Sarada to decide to start toddling around while both he and Sakura are in the room. Then she wouldn't feel like she missed this milestone.

He frowns and shakes his head.

No, he doesn't like the idea of hiding the truth from his wife, even for something like this.

Especially for something like this.

Before he can think too much about a possible solution, fate decides to intervene.

He senses Sakura's chakra approaching their front door and imagines the clack of her heels on the walkway as she rummages in her bag for the housekeys.

Quick as he can, he puts Sarada back on her blanket and leaves the room, placing the dinosaur back on the cabinet for a third time. Glancing back into the room to ensure his daughter hasn't moved – and she hasn't yet, instead sitting on the blanket with a frown on her face like she can't figure out how or why she is back where she started – Sasuke lingers in the entranceway to greet his wife.

The front door opens and there's Sakura – all smiles and tired yet sparkling eyes – about to open her mouth in greeting.

Sasuke raises a finger to his lips and motions her forward, knowing if Sarada hears her mother she'll probably get distracted.

Puzzled, and perhaps a little wary, Sakura toes off her shoes and slips into the house to stand beside Sasuke. Gently, he manoeuvres her to stand so that while she can see around the doorway, Sarada remains blind to her.

Their daughter, in the meantime, lets out a frustrated sound that's halfway between a mewl and a scoff, and glares at the plushie.

Sakura makes a strangled noise in her throat that Sasuke thinks might be a hastily suppressed squeal of appreciation. He can't even fault her for it because his own mouth is drawn into a smile at the way Sarada puffs out her cheeks and draws her eyebrows together.

That smile widens a little as before their eyes, Sarada clambers up on chubby, wobbly legs and crosses the room. This time she barely uses the furniture as she stalks forward with purpose, before once again reaching the cabinet, grabbing her plush toy, and clutching at it defiantly.

There's a beat of silence, and then to Sasuke's great shock, Sakura bursts into tears.

As soon as they register, he knows they are tears of joy, but he always finds himself at a loss when he sees Sakura cry.

"Oh, sweetheart, look at you!" Sakura cries, bounding across the room to scoop up their daughter and cover her with kisses. Sarada is so surprised and bemused to see her mother, that she instantly forgets about her long-sought-after toy and shrieks with joy. "You're such a good girl! You walked, baby, look at that! You figured it out by yourself, right? Or did Papa help you?"

She turns a questioning, still-tearstained look on Sasuke, who shakes his head. "She did it herself. I missed it the first time."

He gives her a brief explanation of how events transpired.

"Well that won't do, we can't both have missed it," Sakura declares, lowering the toddler to the floor. She doesn't let her sit, however, instead holding her by both hands in a way that forces Sarada to stand. "Come here, take her hand."

Sasuke does so, leaning over to take Sarada's tiny left hand in his right. She beams up at him in response, tugging at him impatiently.

"Let's walk with her," Sakura continues. "Maybe we can get her to do it without furniture if we help."

Which is how the two of them end up spending the next hour crouched over, guiding their child throughout the house and in the garden. Occasionally Sarada's enthusiasm will lead her to trip over her feet, but Sakura and Sasuke easily catch her at these times, swinging her between them until she is shrieking with giggles.

終わり

Thank you for reading! Reviews and concrit are much appreciated! Be sure to check out my tumblr page as well for the non LOF fic-prompts that I don't post here on ffnet.

クリ