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The first time Sakura realized she could no longer tie her own shoes without turning it into an Olympic event, she refused to admit defeat.
It happened on an ordinary spring morning.
Sunlight spilled through the bedroom windows in pale golden ribbons, warming the polished wooden floor as birds chirped somewhere beyond the open balcony. The village had only just begun to wake, merchants were lifting their shutters, and the distant laughter of children drifted through the peaceful air.Inside the Uchiha household, however, Sakura was engaged in what she firmly believed should have been a simple task.She sat on the edge of the bed with one sneaker already on her foot, staring determinedly at the untied laces of the other.
"I can do this."
She leaned forward.The baby immediately protested. A tiny foot or perhaps an elbow pressed insistently beneath her ribs, forcing her to stop with a quiet hiss.
"Okay..."
She shifted sideways and tried again from another angle. The result was somehow worse. Her round belly got in the way, her balance became questionable, and by the time she managed to reach the laces, she had completely run out of breath.
"...Seriously?"
Another attempt.
Another kick.
Another frustrated sigh.
Across the room, Sasuke silently observed the increasingly ridiculous battle while fastening the straps around his sword. He waited exactly long enough to determine whether she was genuinely making progress.
She wasn't.Without a word, he walked over. Sakura noticed his shadow before she looked up.
"I've almost got it."
"You've said that three times."
"I mean it this time."
"...Mm."
She reached forward once more.
Nothing.
She let out an irritated groan and collapsed backward onto the mattress.
"I hate pregnancy."
Sasuke crouched in front of her before she could protest. His movements were practiced, almost effortless, as he lifted her foot with surprising gentleness.
"Sasuke..."
He ignored her. His fingers worked quickly through the laces, tightening them just enough to be comfortable before tying a perfectly neat knot. Then he repeated the process with the other shoe.
"There."
Sakura stared down at her feet.
"...I could've done that."
"You couldn't."
"I absolutely could."
"You almost fell off the bed."
"I was adjusting."
"You looked like you were fighting the shoe."
Sakura huffed dramatically, folding her arms over the curve of her stomach.
"The shoe started it."
Sasuke looked at her for exactly one second before a laugh escaped him.It wasn't loud, nor was it the restrained breath people mistook for amusement whenever they expected him to remain stoic. It was an honest laugh—low, warm, effortless.
Sakura blinked.
"You're laughing at me."
"A little."
"Traitor."
"You spent ten minutes losing a fight to a shoelace."
"I was adapting to new circumstances."
"You declared war on your own sneaker."
"It was winning."
That only made him laugh harder. Sakura could only stare for a moment before she found herself laughing too. There had been a time when hearing Sasuke laugh had been so rare she could count the occasions on one hand. Now the sound filled their bedroom often enough that it had become one of her favorite parts of coming home.
"You know," she said between giggles, "I liked you better when you were pretending to be mysterious."
"You would've complained either way."
"Probably."
"Definitely."
—
It became a routine before either of them realized it.Every morning Sakura would sit by the entrance while putting on her shoes.
Every morning she would attempt to tie them herself. Every morning she would fail for a completely different reason.
"My stomach's in the way."
"The baby kicked."
"I can't reach."
"My back hurts."
"I think my arms got shorter."
"They didn't."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm certain."
Eventually, she stopped pretending she could manage it alone. She would simply sit down and wait.
Without discussion.
Without embarrassment.
Sasuke would kneel before her, gather the loose laces between his fingers, and tie them with the same quiet focus he devoted to sharpening a blade or cleaning his sword.To anyone else, it might have looked insignificant.
To Sakura...It wasn't.
She had spent years believing love had to be expressed through grand sacrifices.
Saving someone's life.
Leaving to protect them.
Standing between them and danger.
Yet somewhere along the way she had discovered another language entirely.
One spoken without speeches.
Without declarations.
Without dramatic gestures.
It lived inside small moments.
A cup of tea already waiting before she asked.A blanket draped over her when she fell asleep reading.A hand resting against the small of her back whenever she struggled to stand.
Shoelaces tied before she even realized she needed help.Perhaps that was what marriage became after enough years.
Not fewer acts of love.
Just quieter ones.
—
Naruto had absolutely no business being at their house before eight in the morning.Which, naturally, was exactly why he was.
"I'm starving!" he shouted before the front door had fully opened. "Sakura! Tell your grumpy husband to make breakfast!"
"I heard that."
"Good!"
Naruto wandered into the entrance hall carrying enough energy to power half the village.
He stopped.
Blink.
Blink again.
Sasuke was kneeling on the floor.Sakura stood patiently in front of him with one foot resting lightly against his knee while he tied the laces of her sneakers with complete concentration.
Neither of them noticed Naruto.
Or perhaps they simply didn't care.
Naruto's jaw slowly descended.
"..."
"..."
"...WHAT?"
Both Uchihas looked at him.
"What?" Sakura asked.
Naruto pointed dramatically.
"Sasuke is tying your shoes!"
"Yes."
"...SASUKE?"
"Yes."
"...The Sasuke?"
"There is only one."
Naruto looked personally offended by reality itself.
"I thought he was sharpening weapons this morning!"
"I finished."
"So now you're tying SHOES?"
"They're untied."
Naruto turned toward Sakura in desperate search of an explanation.
"Is he being threatened?"
"No."
"Blackmailed?"
"No."
"Genjutsu?"
"No."
"Then why is the emotionally constipated avenger tying your sneakers like some romance novel husband?!"
Sakura blinked innocently.
"I can't bend over."
Naruto stared at her stomach.
"...Oh."
A thoughtful silence followed.
Then—
"...That's actually kind of adorable."
Sasuke stood.
"It isn't."
"It IS!"
"It isn't."
"It totally is!"
Sakura bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing.
Naruto suddenly grinned. A dangerous grin. The kind that had preceded countless disasters throughout his life.
"Oh..."
Sakura recognized that expression immediately.
"...Naruto."
"I'm not going to do anything."
"Naruto."
"I swear."
"Naruto."
"I have to leave now."
"You absolutely do not."
"I'll see you guys later!"
He vanished in a swirl of leaves. The front door slammed.
Silence.
Sakura slowly turned toward her husband.
"...He's going to tell everyone."
"...Probably."
"We should stop him."
"We won't."
"Why not?"
"He won't listen."
"...Fair point."
—
Exactly forty-three minutes later, Ino burst through the hospital doors.
She didn't greet anyone.She didn't even remove her coat.She marched directly into Sakura's office wearing the largest grin imaginable.
"I HEARD."
Sakura froze with a patient chart halfway open.
"...Heard what?"
"Ino's sources are confidential."
"Naruto."
"Naruto."
Sakura sighed.
"What exactly did he tell you?"
"That Sasuke kneels every morning to tie your shoes because you're carrying the future Uchiha heir and apparently he's become the most disgustingly devoted husband in existence."
"..."
"..."
"...He wasn't wrong."
Ino squealed loudly enough to startle everyone in the hallway.
"I KNEW IT!"
Before Sakura could recover, the door opened again.
This time it was Kiba.
"So it's true?"
Behind him appeared Choji.
Then Lee.
Then Tenten.
Even Shikamaru wandered by, looking mildly curious.
Sakura buried her face in her hands.
"This is humiliating."
"It is," Shikamaru agreed. "Mostly because Uzumaki somehow turned a thirty-second interaction into today's biggest headline."
By lunchtime, the story had evolved.
According to various versions circulating around the village...
Sasuke carried Sakura everywhere.
Fed her breakfast.
Brushed her hair.
Read bedtime stories to the baby every evening.
Massaged her feet on command.
And, in one particularly imaginative retelling, had cried because she sneezed.
None of which had actually happened.
Well...Most of it hadn't.
—
That evening Sakura returned home prepared to complain about Naruto for at least an hour.Instead, she found Sasuke kneeling in the entrance once again.He glanced up as she removed her sandals.
"Long day?"
"The entire village knows you tie my shoes."
"Hn."
"That is your reaction?"
"I expected it."
She laughed despite herself.
"You really don't care?"
"They're wrong."
"They're wrong?"
"I don't only tie your shoes."
Before she could ask what he meant, he stood and quietly took her shopping bag from her hand.
Then another.
He hung her coat.
Poured her a glass of water before she asked. Pulled out her chair at dinner because her back had been bothering her. Later, when she stood up with a wince, his hand instinctively settled against her lower back to steady her.
One gesture after another.
Small.
Automatic.
Natural.
None of them performed because anyone was watching.None of them done to impress another person.
Simply because taking care of her had become as instinctive as breathing. Sakura watched him move around their home, completely unaware that he was proving her point.
She smiled to herself.
"So..."
He looked over.
"What?"
"I think Naruto actually underestimated you."
A faint crease appeared between his brows.
"How?"
"He only told everyone you tie my shoes."
She walked over, wrapped her arms around his neck as well as her belly allowed, and kissed his cheek.
"He forgot to mention everything else."
For a brief moment, the stoic mask slipped.
Warmth softened Sasuke's dark eyes in a way only she ever seemed to witness. He rested one hand gently over the curve of her stomach, the other settling around her waist with quiet certainty.
The baby chose that exact moment to kick.
Sakura laughed.
"There. Even our child agrees."
Sasuke's expression relaxed into the smallest, rarest smile.
"So does the father."
And if, the next morning, Naruto happened to peek through the open gate only to witness Sasuke kneeling once again to tie Sakura's shoes before kissing her forehead with absent-minded tenderness, well...
The rumors that spread afterward were entirely his fault.