Damaged Pieces (SasuSaku AU)

III. Meet the Haruno

DAMAGED PIECES: MEET THE HARUNO

Never could the ordinary man stop the hands of fate.

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Sasuke didn't know what brought him to talk to her. But he wanted to. For just some reason, he did.
He recalled her question from their first meet that he'd brushed off as a poor attempt at flirting.

"Do I know you?"

Now he himself was asking that very question.

"You", he saw her pointing invisibly at him.

"Hn."

Eye roll. "What are you doing here? This seminar was for parents and to-be-parents only."

Sasuke was busy scanning his memory to find a match for her familiar eyes. Not that he hadn't heard her. "I know."

"Well?"

"What?"

Sigh. "Are you a parent?"

Sasuke froze for a moment. He did not like telling people he had a four year old daughter. Not because he was ashamed. He most certainly was not. He didn't like the many questions that followed.

She is really yours?
How old is she?
Wow, you must have been very young, no?
.
.
But, the one that had bugged him most in the beginning-

Who is her mother?

- was the one question gone unanswered to himself too.

He had carried out a search with Naruto in the beginning, to try and find Sarada's birth mother. They had knocked on each girl's door who Sasuke had slept with. There had been quite a few, given his popularity with the opposite gender.

Extensive searching for the woman resulted in nothing. They left no one out. At least, they thought they were thorough. Some girls who'd been madly in love with him had even claimed to be Sarada's mother. Thank the Lord for DNA tests.

After a year, he gave up the search.
The question remained in the back of his head even today. But it was in the back. He tactfully dodged the question whenever Sarada asked or found some nonsensical answer to give.
He had learnt to simply lie straightforwardly when asked if Sarada was his daughter. Which is what he did now too.

"No. Naruto likes a girl.", he answered, as if that would explain everything.
Seeing the look on her face, he guessed it actually did.

After a long moment of debate with himself, he finally asked her what he wanted to.
"Do I know you?"

Sakura immediately arched her brow. Had she not asked the same thing when they first met? And he'd acted as if she was a fangirl.

He regretted the question the moment it left his lips. And now, more so.

"Forget it.", he immediately turned to leave.

Sakura bit her lip. "Wait!"
She pulled her bag over her shoulder and joined him in walking out the doors of the hall.
"I think you do know me."

"Probably not. I'd remember you."
The words had escaped his mouth before he could stop them.
He could only hope she'd ignore them but by the questioning look on her face, he was out of luck.

"You have .. peculiar features.", he quickly defended.

That seemed to explain it to her, even if she was arching an offended brow at him right now.
On their way out, they were surrounded by a bunch of kids from the school. One of them pulled at Sasuke's jeans and getting his attention, made a few handsigns.
He gave the child a confused look before Sakura explained they needed help.

"You speak sign launguage.", he made the genius conclusion.

Sakura nodded, wondering if the raven will help. Surprisingly enough, he did. He climbed the tree and got the cat out and everything. She thought maybe he wasn't so bad afterall, not that it could change her mind so easily.
They parted ways soon as Naruto came for Sasuke.

They met more times after that. Not purposely, but at Ichiraku's where she worked, or at the medical store, or at some supply store where oddly, she found him buying a bunny toothbrush. They just ran into each other. They noticed each other, but didn't really speak. Sakura, by nature, and Sasuke, simply because he didn't have anything to say.

Sakura made no friends at the college. She didn't want to. One girl who had partnered up wih her for lab work got on her nerves as it is, what with constant chatter about some guy she was in love with. Sakura knew the girl could talk away even if she left the scene, which is what she mostly did.

After her day shift at Ichiraku's because it was a weekend, she headed out for the grocery store to get her supply of instant foods followed by going to the market for some fresh fruits.

She wasn't even surprised when she was joined by Sasuke there, in apparently buying tomatoes too.

Done paying, he turned to leave. And just then, she witnessed it.
Sasuke froze for a moment when Sarada pulled at his finger.

"Papa, can we go for ice cream?", she asked.

He turned his head to glance at the woman he knew was standing behind him. And sure enough, she was staring. Their eyes met then and Sasuke knew there was no undoing this. Sakura walked over to them and surprisingly, smiled and knelt down to greet Sarada instead of him.

"Hi there. I'm Sakura. What's your name?", she extended her hand out to the girl.

The girl glanced up at Sasuke. He nodded. So she went ahead and shook her hand. "Sarada Uchiha", she answered.

Sakura only smiled warmly. "Lovely name you have there."

"Thank you."
Sarada slowly stepped closer to Sasuke, not suggesting she was uncomfortable but, out of habit of sticking close to her father when they were outside.
In general too, Sarada had only ever known her father and her Uncle Naruto. So she tended to stay close to them even at home. She shared a great relationship with Sasuke.

"Papa?", she looked up at her dad who was carefully studying the pinkette.

"Yes. Ice cream it is. Lets go, Sarada.", he answered.

Sakura stood up straight to meet Sasuke's gaze. He was surprised to find no accusation in her features regarding his white lie.

"How old is she?"

"Four."

Four. Sakura's brows furrowed as if subconciously, the number was important.

"She is beautiful.", Sakura complimented.

"Thank you", he replied, grateful she didn't ask any questions he couldn't answer.

"Papa," Sarada tugged at Sasuke's sleeve again.

"Yes, we are going."

Sakura smiled at both of them and waved a goodbye before leaving herself.

Sasuke stared at her back for a few seconds before walking away.

The pinkette turned around to glance at the man and his daughter. His daughter. Four years old.

And the girl herself. Sakura couldn't help but be drawn to the girl. Otherwise, she wouldn't have approached Sasuke like this. The gears in her head began turning. The rest of the week, Sarada remained glued to her mind.

Sasuke once brought her to Ichiraku along with Naruto and his new girlfriend.
Sakura only kept looking at the little girl from behind the counter. She knew. Sakura knew.

Yes, it was possible that all this time of searching for her daughter was making her sanity slip when it came to kids. She had started to wonder each time she passed a small child, whether it was hers.

She had always thought she'd know when she'd see her. And now, she thought she did. Somehow, Sakura Haruno knew, Sarada Uchiha was the daughter she had been searching for.