A/N: hello sorry for my lack of posts :( this is short but I just wanted to get something out so here's this. At first I was just gonna make this a tumblr drabble (I did that like once lol) but then I remembered my personal quest to make ss the most tagged pairing from nart so here we are hahah

Sakura had just woken up from a nap when she heard the high pitched squeals of joy coming from Sarada's room. Rubbing her bleary green eyes, she sat up and stretched. The sounds were happy enough for her to not be too worried. She was just curious about what was so entertaining to her.

She shuffled out of the bedroom she shared with Sasuke and went straight to Sarada's nursery. She wasn't sure what she expected, but she also wasn't anticipating her husband's dark figure leaned over the white crib.

He had his one hand in the crib, playing with their baby — clearly to her great amusement. When Sakura got closer, she saw Sasuke's fingers gently gliding over Sarada's skin. Was he tickling her?

Sasuke had established a pattern: Sarada would grab his finger with her entire fist, and laugh because she got Papa! But then Sasuke would extract himself from her grip and lightly tickle her: under her pudgy arm, behind her ear, on the side of her neck, on the bottom of her feet. And that, that would get Sarada practically singing.

Sasuke let her hold onto his finger a while longer as he addressed his wife, "she's been starting to laugh more. Can you believe it? It feels like she started smiling just last week." He wore a smile similar to Sarada's — except he had teeth.

It always warmed her heart how capable and dedicated of a father Sasuke was. He was always taking care of Sarada just as much as she did, and she knew he would go to the ends of the earth (and beyond their own dimension) to protect their little family. But to see this playful side of him just made her melt. He often took himself too seriously, but Sarada was usually able to flip his world upside down.

"Her papa makes her very happy, I see. And it makes sense that she's ticklish," Sakura said with a sly smile, "when her papa is just like that!" She dug her fingers into Sasuke's side and watched him crumple over the rails of the crib.

"That's supposed to be top ranked, highly classified information," he muttered. She knew all his weaknesses.

"She's so much like you," Sakura murmured as she stroked the soft tufts of dark hair on their daughter's head. The wide, midnight eyes blinking up at her just punctuated her point. She wondered if Sasuke was this cute when he was a baby. He had to be when he was so handsome now!

"Maybe, but she's a lot like you too. Look, her cheeks have gotten so pink from laughing," he pointed out, poking Sarada's chubby cheeks that he loved so much. Sakura was often blushing around him, too. He decided to give Sarada a break to catch her breath, her little lungs probably weren't used to laughing so much. He scooped her out of her crib and held her up to compare to Sakura's face. "Not quite the same shade, but still pink." Sarada continued cooing and gurgling happily. She was in a good mood after her afternoon nap and now she was ready to play.

Sakura took Sarada out of Sasuke's hand and cradled her in her arm, tracing a finger over her petite nose and pink lips. "She's going to grow teeth soon," she commented as Sarada attempted to gnaw on Sakura's rough finger with her still smooth gums. When Sakura pulled her finger out of her mouth and tapped her nose, Sarada just giggled some more. Everything was a game at that tender age.

"How long were we out?" Sakura asked her husband. After setting Sarada down, Sasuke had insisted Sakura take a nap while he cleaned up around the house. She was too tired to argue, but she hadn't checked the clock before getting up so she could've been asleep all day for all she knew.

"The usual time for her," he answered. "She wasn't awake for too long before you came in here. I thought it was time to check on her and she was just starting to stir." He didn't want to pull her out before she was ready, so he figured it was fine to play with her while she was still lying comfortably on her back.

Sarada was wearing a light pink onesie with the Uchiha fan carefully stitched to the back. See, more pink. He truly adored the pink newness of her skin and nails, unmarred by the cruel shinobi world she would have to face eventually. For now, she was soft and innocent. A clean slate. He hoped for her to have a better childhood than what he experienced.

Sakura leaned down to kiss Sarada's smooth, wide forehead, then tickled her face with butterfly kisses. More sweet laughter. Sarada was so precious, she felt like she could stay there holding their daughter forever. "She's so happy right now," Sakura said with a grin. Sometimes they had to deal with a very cranky baby, so she was glad Sasuke was able to put her in a good mood with his antics.

"Hn, that makes two of us."

A/N: you ever get baby fever and are just like omg I love babies...they're so cute...that was me writing this. Plus parent ss is just sooo heart eyes and [insert sparkling puppy eyes emoji]

Also I literally have no idea how babies develop age wise so don't come at me if any of this is inaccurate haha