Chapter Text
Sasuke was on his way to the airport to pick up his daughter Sarada, who was going to spend the next month in his house. A year and a half had passed since he and Sakura’s marriage ended, and although things seemed a bit confusing at first (especially for Sarada), over time the three of them had adapted easily to their new routine of living apart. Some time ago, Sasuke had decided to move to another city for work, which is why his daughter came to visit him every three months and spent a full month with him.
Being emotionally available had never been Sasuke’s best trait. Of course, he adored his daughter, and he’d once had deep affection for his ex-wife, but that didn’t mean it was easy for him to show it or be there for people. For this reason, at first it was a little uncomfortable for him to spend the entire month with his daughter, but with some time and a little help from the internet, he was learning to be a better father. He asked questions about school and tried to learn more about her hobbies and friends.
It was surprising how, over the past year, Sasuke had come to truly get to know his daughter after living with her for the last sixteen years.
As he arrived at the airport, he glanced at his watch: Once again, he’d arrived fifteen minutes earlier than necessary. He definitely needed to recalculate his schedule in order to avoid showing up too early; parking was ridiculously expensive, and he had to drive around slowly, pretending he was lost, to prevent getting a ticket. Was this the price of being such an excessively pragmatic man when it came to the concepts that entered his head?
10:35 a.m.: Incoming call from Sarada Uchiha
- “Yes?”
- “I’m already at Gate Five.”
- “I’ll be right there.”
As he approached the gate where his daughter was standing, she immediately recognized the car and waved to him from a distance, gesturing that she needed help with her bags. Sasuke nodded and rolled down the window to address the security guard standing next to him: “Can I park for a moment and help my daughter with her bags? It’ll only take two minutes.”
The guard turned his gaze to Sarada and then back to Sasuke, nodding but signaling that they could only stay for two minutes to ensure traffic didn’t come to a standstill. Sasuke nodded in gratitude and climbed out of the car quickly to go help his daughter.
- “Hi, Dad.”
- “Sarada, it’s good to see you.”
After saying this, he reached for one of his daughter’s backpacks, but his strength suddenly failed him, and he collapsed to the ground.
- “Dad, are you okay?”
- “Yeah, I just tripped”—after saying this, Sasuke tried to get up, but his body wouldn’t respond, feeling a searing pain shoot through his entire body.
Sasuke couldn’t get up.
…
“Naruto, If only we’d had more time…”
- “Hey, Uzumaki. Sleeping again?”—his friend Shikamaru snapped him out of the strange dream he’d been lost in just a moment ago
- “Sorry, work’s been rough lately. What’s up?”
- “You’ve got a patient, big guy.”
Naruto could only sigh. The truth was, he loved his profession; he’d always felt a deep passion for helping others through his work, but it was also clear that medicine was a high-pressure job, and lately he’d been feeling pretty tired. He was already thirty-five years old, but he couldn’t afford to have a partner or a family, and most of his friends were his coworkers at the hospital. Not to mention the long hours, the physical exhaustion, and the emotional strain of working in a specialty where he had to deliver bad news every day: oncology.
His life was a bit lonely.
- “Room?”
- “808, wing F”
Naruto nodded and headed to the room Shikamaru had pointed out to him a moment ago. As soon as he entered the room, he saw a teenage girl sitting in a chair next to the hospital bed, scolding the patient—who appeared to be her father.
- “You must be Sasuke, right?”
The man—who was about the same age as him and had black hair—met his gaze instantly and nodded.
- “I just tripped and sprained my ankle. My daughter was a little worried, but it’s over now. Can I go home soon? I have some work to do.”
- “I understand, but before you go, I’d like to run a couple of medical checks to make sure everything’s okay.”
- “But-”
- “Dad, stop being so stubborn,” — Sarada interrupted before he could say anything. —“Let the professionals do their job.”
Sasuke had no choice but to obey, which Naruto found quite endearing. After all, the dynamics of parent-child relationships were a completely foreign concept to him, but they never ceased to intrigue him.
After that, the girl left the room to get something to eat, leaving her father alone with the doctor.
- “Teenagers,” Naruto smiled.
- “Do you have any children, Doctor?”
- “No, I don’t have much time for my personal life,” - he shook his head immediately.
- “It’s a demanding job, isn’t it?”
- “Quite,” – Naruto nodded quickly – “What do you do for a living?”
- “I’m an architect.”
Naruto was surprised by how naturally the conversation flowed, momentarily forgetting that this was just another patient—a patient to whom he would likely have to deliver bad news after the tests.