Hello, guys! It's been a while since I've written anything, and as the inspiration strikes I soon take action! The inspiration for this oneshot was this fan art by BlackRose that can be seen on her Devianart (deviantart com /byblackrose/art/Sudden-trouble-Mrs-Uchiha-507333293). I always imagined Sarada having a little brother, and that she would be a kind of second mother to him, since I see her as a super protective person when it comes to family :) Oh, and I like to call him "Sakê" ( yes, the saquê drink xD), but to give more life to this fanart, here in the oneshot I will call him "Satoshi" as the fanart artist baptized him. Hope you like it! (and take easy with me, my first language is portuguese :D)
The Scroll
"Are you sure?" Sakura asked Sarada for the thousandth time that morning. "I can leave him with your grandparents and you can enjoy your day off," she continued.
"Don't worry, mama," Sarada replied, rolling her eyes at her mother's insistence. Sarada always considered herself a very mature girl for her age, and she was proud to have her mother's confidence in her for absolutely everything, even when she was a small child. Perhaps this happened to the fact that for some years it was only Sarada and Sakura, the infallible duo, always being present to each other. The absence of her father made the girl acquire an admirable responsibility. Sarada always knew how to read her mother as an open book, and she knew how her father absence had hurt her mother, so she stopped asking about her father when she realized how sad her questions were for her. To Sarada, a family is the most precious treasure that anyone could have, and since her father come back to Konoha, she could see that this philosophy also applied to her father, whom she always judged to have been absent in much of her life. The little time she spent by his side after his return, made the girl finally realize what her mother has always tried to get her to understand.
Her father loved them deeply.
He is not good with words, it's true, but he knew very well how to show his affection through gestures. Her father always did his best to make up for lost time, always calling her for a walk - even embarrassed or awkwardly - simply to be able to small talk and get to know her even better. These attempts didn't go unnoticed by Sarada, who when noticed the difficulty her father had to approach, began to take actions, such as calling him to see her training and even calling him to help at dinner time - something she always did with her mother. And even after the birth of her little brother, her father was still present in her training and to take a walk, making it clear that she was still being loved even with a new member in the family. Sarada knew this was worrisome to her father when she unintentionally overheard her parents conversation in the kitchen when she came down late at night to drink some water.
"What if she thinks I'm here just because of him?", she heard her father's voice. Afraid she might be caught, Sarada slowly stepped back with the intention of returning to her bedroom when she heard her mother's voice. "Stop being silly, Sasuke-kun, Sarada would never think that.", hearing her name made her stop. Trying to control her breathing, and using her skills as a shinobi, Sarada stood on the stairs, listening intently to her parents' conversation.
"What if she thinks I care more about him because I'm here now?", she heard her father whisper after a minute of silence. Sarada was still trying to understand what her father was trying to say when her mother's voice interrupted her reverie. "Sasuke-kun, I love you, Sarada loves you, and we both know you love us. I know that. I understand and supported your mission, even though I disliked it. I know it hurts you as much as me, I know you felt as much as we did. Even though Sarada is still too young to know details about your mission, I know she understands. Sarada is too mature, she always was", she could deduce that her mother was smiling as she spoke,"She realizes your effort when you try to spend time with her, she realizes you care. Sarada doesn't hold a grudge, she just missed you to much."
"I will never forgive myself for losing so much… for leaving both of you alone—", Sarada heard her mother cut her father off, "We are shinobi. We have to do what is our duty. Even if it hurts us. It's our job to protect the village.", Sarada decided she had overheard a lot, and she had to go back to her bedroom before she got caught when she heard her father again.
"I just want her to know that I would give my life for both of them", Sarada couldn't contain herself, she couldn't handle the stubborn tears she was trying to hold. He loved them - her, her mother and now her new little brother, deeply, as her mother had always said to her with vehemence. She was sure of that because she had spent so much time with her father since his return, and the eagerness she saw in him to spending time with her. Although her father was a man of gestures and not of words, and to show his love for his family in his way, hearing something like that from his mouth was something priceless for her.
"She knows, Sasuke-kun, she knows."
The memory of this intimate conversation with her parents was always present in her thoughts, for it was proof of how she saw her family: united, loving, centered, and unique. And for that reason, she wouldn't leave her poor little brother — who was happily playing with his little hands on her lap — at her grandparents. She loved them, and was eternally grateful that they had taken care of her when her mother had unexpected emergencies at the Hospital, but they had no more ability to take care of a two-year-old baby — and she could tell this from experience.
Snorting with her mother's stubbornness, Sarada added, "Mama, the last time you left me with Grandpa and Grandma, they left me alone in the house with a note that said 'Feel free to do all the romp you want without your boring mother present;)'"
Sakura looked at a smiling Satoshi on her daughter's lap when she thought of something to defend her parents, but she couldn't think about anything. She knew very well how they could be. She didn't blame her daughter for not wanting to leave her little brother with them. She was right.
"But today is your day off," Sakura reminded her again. Sarada was now a Chunnin, and as such she was always being summoned on long tiresome missions, when the girl had a day off, it was more than deserved.
"I don't mind taking care of Satoshi, mama, I wanted to spend some time with him since I have not been at home lately," Sarada revealed the source of her obstinacy to stay with her brother, making Sakura smile genuinely.
"Okay, but anything I'm just a call away, ok? If you decide to go somewhere, leave Satoshi with your grandparents", Sakura said hastily — kissing Satoshi's and Sarada's forehead — since she was late for scheduled surgery, "but knowing you, you will take him even to a restaurant with Chocho, but you will not leave him with your grandparents", she said, leaving through the front door.
"Bye-bye", Satoshi shouted waving frantically with his hands.
"You know me very well!", Sarada replied amused, loud enough for her mother to hear her from the gate. When she realized that she was finally alone with her brother, Sarada lowered her face to face her brother, who was still waving.
"What do you want to do?", Satoshi's angelic smile was so beautiful that Sarada could do nothing but reciprocate with another smile.
—-
How can a baby make such a mess? She couldn't stop thinking it when she put away all the toys scattered across the living room floor. She had spent most of the morning playing with Satoshi in the living room, and after lunch — with them properly fed — Sarada had put Satoshi to take a nap. As much as she missed her brother, it was great to have the house quiet for a while.
But the wonderful silence had ended quickly when she heard the bell and Chocho's voice shouting from the front door. Sarada ran to the door before her friend's scandal woke her brother.
"Chocho—"
"Saradaaa! Today is the perfect day!", Chocho cut her off, "It's our day off and it opened a new restaurant with the best delights of the Land of Wind, come and keep me company", she said already taking Sarada's sandals on the floor with one hand and with the other dragging Sarada out the door.
"Chocho, I can't, today I'm taking care of Satoshi", Sarada tried to break away from Chocho's grip as she focused on her brother's chakra in his bedroom on the second floor, "Satoshi is asleep, I can't leave now."
"So take him with us", Chocho replied finally releasing Sarada; putting her hands on her waist, continued, "It's a ritual. Me, you, new restaurant", Chocho wouldn't give up so easy, and Sarada knew that.
"I thought this was a ritual between you and your dad", she said amused as she always thought when her friend was euphoric about food.
"Hm, he went on a mission, and he's not even caring for me or the food. He always got me nuts", and I'm always your second choice, she thought wryly. Sarada knew that Chocho considered her her best friend, but sometimes her friend didn't have much notion about the feelings of others when she focused only on her wishes. Not that Sarada cared so much about this, she knew that Chocho could forget her wishes if she realized that a friend really needed help — since she had always been present at the times Sarada always needed. Chocho continued to babble, but Sarada wasn't paying attention, she was focusing again on her brother's chakra, until she realized he was no longer in his bedroom.
"Saradaaaaaaaa", Chocho tried to caught her attention, realizing that her friend wasn't paying attention to what she had said.
"I think he woke up", Sarada said with a sniff, focusing on his chakra and trying to find her brother on the second floor.
"Yeah, he's awake! We can take Satoshi now, I'll teach him to have good taste with food", she tried to persuade her again, going back to the front door and removing her sandals to entering the house. "Come on, Sarada".
"Okay, okay, give me a minute", she replied defeated. Sarada scrambled up the stairs — not before she noticed Chocho looking for something in her refrigerator — to find her brother. Satoshi wasn't in his crib, which wasn't news since the little one had learned to climb — he would come out and in easily from the crib. Sarada decided to look for him in her bedroom, since he always went straight to her bedroom when he woke up, but she didn't find him there either.
"Satoshi?", she called, this time going to her parents' bedroom. Sarada opened the door and looked quickly around the room for her brother and turned her back to leave when she noticed some black ink in the entrance of her parents' bathroom through the space between the door and the wall — but the bedroom door didn't allow her eyes to notice that the bathroom door was open. When Sarada followed the ink stains that started from the entrance of the bathroom to where they ended, she found a dirty Satoshi in the bathtub, playing with some scrolls - where he kept stamping with his hand.
"ii-chan!", Satoshi shouted excitedly as he noticed his sister in the bathroom, showing his hand all dirty with black ink.
"Ahh", it's all Sarada managed to utter when she noticed the mess all over the bathroom. Not only was the bathtub stained with black ink, the carpets, drawers, scrolls and everything was painted with ink. Satoshi's hands were in every corner of the bathroom.
Well, it was nothing compared to her Rank B missions, but that would be hard to clean, oh yeah.
At least I have a good excuse to say 'no' to Chocho now.
—
Sarada spent the afternoon wiping all the dirt from the bathroom. She let Satoshi entertain himself with his building blocks on the first floor and was careful to keep the doors locked and the stairs to the second floor without access — until she finished all the service. What a mess. After wiping away all the grime of paint, she picked up the dirty carpets to take them to the laundry room when she remembered about the scrolls. When she began to gather them to throw in the garbage, Sarada noticed that one of the scrolls was not blank, but with scripts in code. When she recognized the handwriting, a shiver ran up her spine.
It's papa's handwriting.
—-
"Tadaima", Sarada heard Sakura's voice from the front door as she began to make dinner — Satoshi playing with his building blocks in the living room.
"Okaeri, mama"
"Mama", Satoshi called excitedly as he realized his mother's arrival. Sakura held a market bag in one arm and on other took the youngest in her lap."Today we are going to have another company for dinner, so I brought some tomatoes", Sakura said excitedly to Satoshi first and then looked at Sarada — realizing the girl's expression changed.
"Papa arrived? Wouldn't he be here in two weeks?", For the first time, Sakura didn't hear euphoria in her daughter's voice, something different, since Sarada always was ecstatic with the presence of her father.
"He finished his mission earlier than expected, isn't that cool?", Noticing Sarada's weird expression, continued, "Nehh, Sarada, it seems like you didn't want your father here today", Sakura said as she put the tomatoes over the sink to wash them.
Sarada couldn't think about her oddity, and even that her mother had noticed something. All she could think of was the torn, tinted scroll that belonged to her father — probably some very important report of his top-secret mission — and that she hadn't two weeks left to think about what to do.
He'll show up here at any minute. What should I do?
...
"Tadaima," Sasuke's voice could be heard through the kitchen.
"Okaeri, Anata. Dinner is almost ready, Sara-chan is making Nikujaga*"
"I'll help set the table", he said, pulling off his sandals and going into the kitchen. As he passed Sarada, he noticed that the girl didn't face him. He could feel the disturbed chakra flow emanating from her as he drew closer, reminding him of how his daughter stayed in his early days at home when he finally returned.
"Something wrong, Sarada?", he asked, curious about her daughter's empty expression as she finished arranging the food to bring the table.
"No", she replied dryly and went straight to the dinner table.
"Ahh", was all he could answer before he followed her to the dinner table.
—
The dinner was oddly quiet — having only Satoshi babbling incomplete words and making fun with the food. Sarada didn't say anything during all dinner, something that didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke and Sakura, but for Sakura, that could be just an oscillation of humor due her adolescence. For Sasuke, that could mean problem.
"I'm satisfied, I'm going to my bedroom", Sarada said as soon as she finished eating, and in the blink of an eye, took her dish to the sink and went up to her bedroom.
"Strange", Sakura finally commented to Sasuke after a few minutes.
"What's strange?", he asked with a curious expression.
"Sarada always helped me clean the table... neh, it must be adolescence", Sakura shook her head, a smile mixed with disdain.
Or she knows something we don't know she knows, Sasuke couldn't help but think about it. If had something that the Uchiha feared, it was Sarada's knowledge of information from other people, especially about his past. It was something constant in his thoughts when he was away, and whenever he came home, he thought of a thousand ways to start this conversation with Sarada, wanting the girl to know everything that happened in his past through him, not from others.
Not wanting Sakura to notice his concern, he offered her a shy smile and the offer to help her clear the table. That would be no news to her, as he always helped her with things like that when they traveled around the world — when it was just them.
—
"Sakura", Sasuke called.
"Yes?", she replied, packing her things to work in the office next to the bedroom. Sasuke was stirring in a specific drawer of the bedside table, where he kept his blank scrolls.
"You cleaned here?", he asked nonchalantly.
"Yes, any problem?", she approached him and noticed that he was looking for something among the scrolls.
"It's nothing", he finally replied, "I must have put away somewhere else", he looked at her with a crooked smile, "Go and do what you have to do, I'll also keep you company soon, I need to do some reports for the dobe".
"All right", she replied with a smile and left the room.
Sarada, who was coming out of the bathroom and going to her bedroom, couldn't help listening to her parents' conversation as she passed their bedroom door. The girl froze in front of her own bedroom. Must be something really important. Why would her father hide a scroll written by codes in the middle of blank scrolls? He didn't want anyone to find this scroll, he disguised it and kept it with others in blank. There was no escape. She needed to tell the truth about the scroll. Determined to take the blame, Sarada entered her bedroom and took the dirty scroll hidden under her bed and went to her father. When she entered the room, she kept her hands behind her, holding the scroll, waiting her father to notice her presence.
"What?", he asked, crouched and with his back to her, still fumbling with the drawers of the bedside table.
Taking a deep breath and courage, Sarada replied, "Is that what you're looking for?", reaching out the scroll to her father.
Sasuke looked at the scroll in confusion, then at Sarada's guilty expression. Realising what was happening there, the Uchiha let out the air with relief.
"You don't look angry", Sarada said confusedly.
"Should I be mad?", he snapped.
Sarada was even more confused by her father's indifference. Wasn't it such an important scroll? "That must be important", she decided to throws her father a curve.
"And it is", he replied as he took the scroll from her hands — opening the scroll and noting that much of the report was unreadable. "Why are you with it?", he stared at her stoically.
"I... I got curious, and I ended up getting the scroll," was the first excuse that went through her mind.
"You were curious and decided to kill your curiosity by stirring up my bedside table that you knew had blank scrolls?", he asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes"
"Sarada, you don't know how to lie", he replied after a few seconds of silence, looking deeply into her eyes. "You don't have to take the blame for anyone."
"I'm not, I'm the one who did it", she had barely answered and was surprised to see her father laughing. It was not a huge laugh, but a weak, mocking laugh. Sasuke opened the scroll a little and showed Sarada small black ink handprints, clearly showing the perpetrator of the crime. "I think your day with Satoshi took you a lot of work... how long did you intend to hide it?", Sasuke asked and if Sarada wasn't so nervous — still waiting for a scolding — she swore her father was enjoying the situation.
"Until you arrive"
"Ok, but I arrived today"
"There was no time for me to make a good excuse", she replied before thinking, causing Sasuke to make an 'O' with his mouth. Catch.
Sasuke looked into her daughter's eyes and then at the scroll, "I'm glad", Sasuke whispered.
"Glad to have an important scroll all messed up?", Sarada asked raising an eyebrow — the same expression her father had just made.
"No", Sasuke denied and crouched down to stay at the same height as his daughter, "Happy to know that you protected your brother", he smiled at her, "If anything ever happens to me or Sakura, Satoshi will have you, and I trust you", Sarada couldn't disguise her surprised expression at her father's words. She expected a scolding, a punishment, not that. Bland with her father's peaceful attitude, Sarada then offered to help rewrite the scroll, but received a negative response from her father.
"It's a coding that only I can do", he replied, tilting his head to one side, causing a piece of his hair to stir enough to show his Rinnegan.
"I see…", Sarada couldn't control her curiosity about the scroll, "Is it about the mission that has driven you away from us for years?", she asked softly.
"Yes", he replied simply.
"One day... are you going to tell me?"
"If you allow me, one day I'll show you"
That made her smile, but then the smile was gone when she looked at the scroll in her father's hand.
"Don't worry about it, I remember exactly what I wrote here", Sasuke realized the anguish in his daughter's face, "You're too mature for your age, Sakura did an incredible job"
"Mama is incredible", Sarada replied proudly.
"I know", he replied with a crooked smile, "Well, I have work to do, and you must sleep", he said, and then touched Sarada's forehead with his fingers of his only hand, "Thank you", and then, stood up heading toward the office where Sakura was.
"Thank you… papa", Sarada whispered to herself in joy as she touched her forehead with her left hand — the same place her father had touched seconds earlier.
Soon, Sarada, soon, that was Sasuke's last thought before leaving the bedroom.