She sprang up from her bed in a flash, panting for no reason she was alert of. Then she looked around the room, checking if anything odd was present. Nope, everything was normal. The cup of water on the table next to her bed was lying on the carpet, with the liquid spilled on the purple carpet.

Nightmares usually haunted Sarada for a day or two after watching horror movies, but that wasn't a problem because the solution would have been sleeping next to her mother. In fact, she didn't prefer watching horror movies at all. Not because she was scared, but because she knew that none of them were real, that she had better things to do. No one forced her to anyway. She was mature for her age, and was probably aware of what was real and what wasn't. Even so, pictures of vampires, ghosts, ghouls, and creepy monsters crawled into her head sometimes. And out of all days of the year, the abnormal creatures decided to make way to her head today.

She had two choices: sleep next to her mother or accept her fate and sleep in her room, risking another bad dream.

Sarada chose the second option after three long minutes of thinking. "Calm down, wash your face, drink some water and go back to sleep. It's that simple," she told herself. Oh, but she wished it was. The third step was beyond impossible. If only she had refused to watch that movie with her parents. If only she had made up an excuse. Apparently, she failed miserably. No one forced her to watch it, but she kind of forced herself to.

"Mama, Papa, I'm going to sleep. Goodnight."

She went up to her parents and received a kiss on the cheek from her mother and a forehead poke from her Papa.

"We're going to stay up late to watch a horror movie, so go ahead and go upstairs without us," Sakura informed her daughter.

"Huh, okay then," Sarada replied.

"Sarada, do you want to stay up and join us?" Sasuke chimed in.

"Me, this? No, its fine."

"Are you scared?"

"No I'm not, I watch scary stuff with Mama all the time and-"

"It's fine if you are."

"I said I am not! I will sit here and I won't even flinch! Just watch me do it, Papa."

"I'd rather watch the movie, but fine. I don't know what you're thinking."

"Your daughter is as stubborn as you are, Sasuke-Kun," Sakura chuckled at her daughter's behavior.

And so the three of them huddled up on the largest couch in the living room, turned the lights off, so that the TV screen was the only source of illumination in the place.

And that was that. She couldn't go to her parents' bedroom, because her beloved Papa was there and he would definitely wake up if she did. Then he would know that she had a nightmare. Then he would know that she was scared, which she wasn't, but she kind of was. That meant that her father would think that she was weak, which she definitely wasn't! It has been a few months since he came back home for good, and although they had been bonding really well, their relationship still didn't reach the point where she could go and cuddle with him in the middle of the night. Maybe it was; maybe he wanted to hug her to sleep and-

"No, now is not the time for hugging anyone," she interrupted herself.

Sarada's head was a jumble of thoughts at the moment. She was so confused that she even forgot what the main problem was in the first place. After half an hour of lying still in bed, she put on her red framed eyeglasses, warily made her way to the bathroom, washed her face, and then went downstairs for a cup of water. On her way back to her room, she stealthily passed Sakura's and Sasuke's bedroom, only to observe a heartwarming sight from the slightly opened door. Her father's large, firm arm was wrapped around her mother's waist, and his face was nowhere to be seen as it was buried in pink strands of hair. Sakura, on the other hand, simply put her hand on top of Sasuke's, and had a loving smile plastered on her face, much similar to the one Sarada had at the moment.

Sleep had never come so easily.

.

.

"Sarada, wake up!" a familiar voice called out. Sarada opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was green eyes.

"Mama, what are you doing?" Oh, that was her mother.

"I've been calling you for an hour! You're going to be late for school, sweetheart."

When the Uchiha heiress sat on the dining table to have her breakfast, she detected no signs of Sasuke within the house. Not his cloak, not his shoes, and definitely no chakra from him. Has he gone on another secret mission to save the world? Without even saying goodbye?

"Mama, where's Papa?" Sarada asked for the millionth time in her lifetime.

"Ah, don't worry, he went on a mission with Naruto, and then he's going to train Boruto. He should be back before it gets dark."

"I see," came the usual reply. Well, thank God he's coming back this time. But why on earth was he and Boruto training?

"Thanks for the breakfast, Mama, I'm off!" By the time Sarada had spoken those words, she was already halfway through the corridor.

"Be safe!" Sakura's sweet voice echoed through the mansion.

So instead of training with his own father, her so called best friend decided to steal hers. Then again, Sarada couldn't be angry, because that blond idiot was dear to her. At the same time, questions such as why her father accepted and why Boruto asked for this anyway popped into Sarada's exhausted brain. Complete chaos was the definition of her feelings.

This isn't going anywhere good.

…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Well, this is it for the first chapter! I know it may be short, but this is just the intro. Thank you for reading and reviews are always appreciated. I might change the rating for this story in the future, but for now, it is this.