AN: Hello folks! Here's my ridiculous, fluffy submission to Fanofthisfiction's "Misunderstandings" One Shot Show Me the Love Challenge 2019. Please know that I will update my other stories as soon as I can:) Until then, please enjoy this one-shot fluffy goodness, and be sure to check out the other stories in this challenge on Fanofthisfiction's profile:)


Sasuke grumbled that he must be getting old as he rubbed his ringing ears. Sarada was saying something, but he couldn't hear her over the roar of the explosion she had detonated just a hairsbreadth away from his face. Well, at least he was doing better than the tree they had been practicing under; it was engulfed in flame, as would the whole training ground if they didn't do something quickly.

Ignoring his headache and masking his annoyance, he gestured at Sarada to follow him to the nearby pond. He activated his Sharingan and performed a simple water jutsu, which Sarada copied, and in short order, the pond was emptied, and the tree, reduced to a blackened, wet skeleton.

Sarada's mouth moved, and though he couldn't hear the words, with his Sharingan activated, he could read her lips.

"Don't worry about it," he said, though he couldn't hear himself. "Let's head home."

Sarada shook her head and said something about Boruto and headed off, but she spoke so quickly, he had a hard time lipreading it all. Had she said something about a date? He had half a mind to follow her but restrained himself. Surely he had misunderstood her. Hadn't he?

Sasuke checked his watch. Sakura was expecting him to be home. He ran a hand through his hair and realized the ends were scorched. How was he going to explain his burnt, damp clothes to Sakura? He shrugged. He couldn't help it if his daughter was a prodigy and had bested him at training. Again.

It was believe that, or admit he was getting old. Nah. Sarada was just that good he decided, as he made his way home.

#

Sarada jogged to Boruto's house with a nagging feeling that something was wrong. She had told her father that she and Boruto had a study date, and his face had gone all funny. She couldn't imagine why. Maybe he was just sore that she'd kicked his butt again in practice, she thought with a smirk, and she dismissed her concern.

#

Sakura was nervous. No, nervous didn't even begin to describe the hoard of angry, rabid butterflies that were fluttering in her stomach. She had big news for Sasuke, and she wasn't sure how he was going to take it.

The front door opened, and it was all Sakura could do not to scurry. She forced herself to look calm and ignore her jitters as she welcomed her husband.

"How was—" Sakura was about to ask, then stopped. Sasuke looked like a half-toasted marshmallow. She couldn't help her smile. "Sarada won again, huh?"

Sasuke shrugged and grunted, but he was smiling too.

"Do you want to get changed before we go out?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke frowned.

"I mean," she gushed, suddenly feeling nervous. "You don't have to if you're hungry! We can go right now—let me just grab my coat."

Sasuke scratched his head and gave her the weirdest look. Could he suspect something?

"I'm actually, ah…" He shook his head and did that thing where he masked his expression. Sakura had a nervous thrill run through her. Could he already know?

"What?" Sakura asked, unable to keep the concern out of her voice.

Sasuke shook his head. "Nothing. Let's go."

#

Sasuke did not want to be fussed over just because he couldn't hear out of one ear. He knew how Sakura got when he hurt himself, and he didn't want to worry her. He was sure his hearing would clear up soon. Except by the time they got to the restaurant, his left ear was still ringing, and what he heard through his right ear sounded like everything was under water.

"How noodles swim in soup?" she said to him, or at least, that's what he heard.

"Mmmm," he said noncommittally, taking another bite of his decidedly noodle-free tomato soup. Should he fess up now about the hearing thing? Nah. He couldn't. He'd just get yelled at for not telling her about it in the first place.

Sakura launched into a monologue about her day; Sasuke caught words like "hospital," "unbelievable," and "medical." Blah, blah, blah. Sakura was the kind of person who could ramble on all day. Not that he usually minded; he loved her, of course, though it was hard for him to come right out and say it. So he usually just listened to her. He had to admit though, it was kind of nice, not being able to hear what she was saying. He could get used to this selective hearing thing.

But then Sakura asked him a question, and what he heard was, "Sarada dating Boruto?"

His blood boiled. Had he heard right? Damn. He should never have let Sarada go off without giving her a heart-to-heart talk about dating—and most importantly, not sleeping with anyone until after marriage, a marriage that he had to approve of because his dumbass apprentice was not good enough for his precious baby girl and I don't care if he's Naruto's son, the answer is NO.

"Sasuke?" Sakura said.

He shook his head. Best not to let the wife know that he would have to kill his apprentice after lunch if Boruto had so much as laid a finger on his daughter. "I didn't know," Sasuke said, carefully neutral.

Sakura's face scrunched up with forced laughter. Great. She was going to let it slide. But then her face got all serious, and she scooted her chair a little closer to the table. Uh-oh. Was Sasuke in trouble?

"Saucy," she said, and Sasuke wondered if she was saying his name or commenting on her food, "Um, eye snap everything find over imported two spell who?"

"Okay," he said evenly, wondering if he should activate his Sharingan to aid with lip reading. He had a feeling he was doing a pretty poor job of it. What the hell was she saying?

"Fear sowing too blather mother crazy," she said, so softly, he could barely make out the words.

"Um, what about your mother?" Sasuke said. Now would be a good time to tell her about his hearing problem, he thought anxiously, but just then, Sakura looked over his shoulder, and her expression soured.

#

"Sasuke," Sakura said, her nervous butterflies now eating her alive. Her lunch was no longer sitting well. "Um, I have something kind of important to tell you?" It came out as a squeaky question.

"Okay," he said, his face free of expression.

"We're going to have another baby!" she whispered, so nervous, she could barely get the words out.

"Um, what about your mother?" Sasuke said.

Sakura gulped and was prepared to tell him again when she caught Naruto coming over to their table. Damn. Her announcement would have to wait. She tried to wipe the disappointment from her face.

"Hey, you guys!" Naruto bellowed, slapping Sasuke on the back as he was mid-slurp on a spoonful of soup. Sasuke sputtered and gasped, then glared at the Hokage.

"Hey Naruto," Sakura said as cheerfully as she could.

"I hear that Sarada has a study date today with Boruto," Naruto boomed with a laugh. "How cute is that? They're out at our house to go over math. I hear there's a big test on Monday!"

"Yeah," Sakura said, unable to help a little smile. "I hear they're all pretty nervous about it."

Sasuke paled. "So they're— I see. Is Hinata home?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto shook his head. "She took Himawari out for ice cream so the kids could have some quiet."

"And you're okay with that?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura could see that there was something not quite right with Sasuke's expression, but Naruto went right on. "Well sure, if they want to study math together, I don't see the harm—"

Sasuke got up abruptly. "Sorry—I've got to go."

Before Sakura could restrain him, Sasuke Shunshined away.

"What was that all about?" Naruto asked an equally confused Sakura.

#

"I fear that Sarada has to date totally width Boruto," Naruto said. So he was in on it too! Sasuke couldn't believe no one had told him the two were dating. He was furious!

Naruto continued, and though it was hard to pick out the particulars, Sasuke thought it sounded like Sarada and Boruto were taking a bath at Naruto's house! He couldn't possibly mean together—could he?!

"Yeah," Sakura responded with a smile. "I ear say petty nervous bout tick." Well, he had no idea what that meant, but she seemed pretty complacent about this whole thing!

Sasuke had to speak up. "So they're— I see. Is Hinata home?" he asked.

Naruto shook his head. He said something about icy screams, but all Sasuke cared about was that Boruto and Sarada were home. Alone. Taking a bath. Possibly together.

"And you're okay with that?" Sasuke asked, incredulous.

When Naruto shrugged and offered some dumb excuse, Sasuke left as quickly as he could.

#

"I'm definitely better at math than you are, Bo-ru-to," Sarada groused, chewing on the end of her pencil. The answer to number five on the study guide was eluding them both, and it was frustrating the heck out of Sarada.

"You freakin' wish," Boruto retorted. "I scored two points higher than you last test!"

Would he ever let that go? "Out of all ten tests we've had this semester," she reminded him coolly, "you've only scored higher than me once. And by only two points."

"Yeah," Boruto conceded, "but I didn't study. That means I'm better at it."

"So then you admit that you're a slacker?" Sarada shot back.

"I'm naturally talented, so I don't have to work as hard as some people," he said, elbowing her in the ribs.

She wasn't sure who started it really. She punched his shoulder, he pinched her arm, and then somehow they were rolling around on the floor trying to kill each other. In a mostly friendly sort of way. They'd been tussling like this since they'd been kids. Except that lately, Sarada felt a strange heat gathering in her belly when Boruto got too near. She tried to pretend that her face was flushed with outrage, rather than something else she couldn't quite explain.

"Boruto, this is all your fault!" she shrieked, finding an errant shoe on the floor and whacking him on the head.

"Ugh! Why are you so violent?" Boruto shouted, and he started tickling her at that spot under her left elbow where she was inexplicably ticklish.

She burst out laughing. "No fair!" she gasped.

"Admit that I'm better at math, and I'll lay off!" he declared, moving on to tickle her belly. She completely lost it and started tearing up from laughing so hard. Just when she thought she was going to have to activate her Sharingan to extricate herself, Boruto did something unexpected: he kissed her.

And then, Sarada did something unexpected herself: she let him.

#

Sasuke perched on the tree next to the Uzumaki home, peering inside the window, his body going rigid. He had thought the whole thing was a misunderstanding when the two were just studying, and he was about to leave when the unthinkable happened.

Boruto! Was kissing! His daughter! He had been so sure that Sarada had been about to punch Boruto in the face, but now! He was kissing her! And she was kissing him back! It was completely unthinkable.

Sasuke's Sharingan activated of its own accord. He was just about to break a window and surge inside when a rough hand caught his bicep. He whirled around to find Sakura giving him The Look, while Naruto was sitting on a branch just above, dopey tears leaking from his blue eyes.

"But—" Sasuke tried to protest.

"We've talked about this before," Sakura said firmly. "Sarada is old enough now to make her own decisions." Okay, so it sounded like, "Sarada went old snuff too much her won divisions," but with the aid of his Sharingan, he was able to parse out what she was actually saying.

"Did you two know about this?" Sasuke demanded.

Naruto trained his guileless eyes on Sasuke. "I thought they were studying!"

Sasuke glared at Sakura. "Ditto," she replied with a huge grin. "How did you know, Sasuke-kun?"

"Call it a fatherly intuition," he grumbled.

"Well," Sakura said, patting his arm, "I'm so proud of you for being in touch with other people's emotions. I know that's hard for you, sweetie."

Sasuke wanted to protest, but of course, he also wanted to take credit for it. So he just grunted.

Sakura started tearing up too. Great. Now Sasuke was surrounded by warm fuzzy feelings. It made his skin itch.

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun," Sakura said, "I'm just so touched right now. I wanted to tell you before, Sasuke-kun," she continued, tears leaking down her cheeks, "but seeing our little girl all grown up—" She sniffled. "I can't wait!" She bit her lip and squeezed Sasuke's arm. "I'm pregnant!"

Sasuke's eyes went wide, his Sharingan whirling. "Wait—what?" he said, sure he had misunderstood.

"We're going to have another baby!" Sakura said.

It was too much—first Sarada, and now this. Unlike his wife's optimistic belief, his ability to handle emotions had never really improved all that much. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he would have fallen out of the tree if Sakura and Naruto hadn't caught him.

Now Sasuke was tearing up too. Damn. "Sakura—" he began hoarsely, but just then, the window opened.

It was Boruto, who was blushing furiously, Sarada behind him looking completely mortified and covering her face with her hands.

"Hey!" Boruto shouted. "We're trying to study in here, you creeps!"

Sasuke's initial urge was to strangle the little jerk, but when Sakura and Naruto burst out laughing, even Sasuke managed a tiny smile.

"You're all pervs," Sarada moaned, and with one hand still covering her face, she slammed the window shut and drew the curtain closed.


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