Disclaimer; No, I do not own Naruto, the manga anime or the character. I own nothing.
Title; The Hazards of Waking up
Chapter One;
Three children sat around a small wooden table; one a blonde boy with two marks on either cheek reading from a comic book seeming quite absorbed, another a dark haired girl leaning on her knuckles and sneaking peeks over her thick rimmed glasses at the boy's comic and the final child a few years younger than the other two humming to herself.
"Did you do the homework?" asked the dark eyed girl drawing the attention of the boy across from her.
"More or less. Why, do you want to copy off me Sarada?" the boy's blue eyes lit up with a fiendish excitement as he teased the girl closing his comic book lightly.
"Hardly, Mister Umino just complains to me when you do your homework selectively." the girl returned back snidely, she might have added more if not for the clattering of the kitchen door drawing silence from the two older children but an excited shout from the youngest of the three.
"Okay guys, breakfast's up." announced the woman struggling with an impressive tray of four breakfasts as she navigated the doorway to the table. She had a stereotypical motherly air around her wearing no real make-up and keeping her hair tied back in a low ponytail at the base of her neck. She wore a plain lavender blouse buttoned up high and a pair of worn comfortable jeans.
"Thanks mommy." the youngest spoke up cheerfully chorused slightly later by the other two offering their own compliments in a much more subdued dawdling manner. It seemed to light up their mother's face though as she smiled brightly passing the plates out among her children before sitting down herself.
"You need help sweetie?" she asked of her youngest as the girl tried with some difficulty to cut some of her breakfast into smaller chunks. Before she could intervene any further though the blonde boy between them had taken it upon himself to help his sister instead.
"I can help Himawari mom." the blonde declared earning a small laugh from his mother as she watched anyway seeming to be enjoying seeing her son helping his sister, she still spared a glance at the third child though quietly nibbling on her own breakfast.
"Thank you Boruto but you need to-" the beginnings of her talk on how he too needed to eat and get ready for school were cut off as the phone erupted in a shrill ring causing the only adult at the table to jump and then blush heavily as the three children stared at her oddly. She laughed it off and excused herself.
"I don't like the egg." commented the youngest Himawari as her brother tried to coax the fussy eater into having some of it to little success. It was a battle that was unlikely to reach a conclusion any time soon though as one Uzumaki sat with a spoonful of scrambled egg raised and the other sat pouting at the spoon in a battle of wills.
"It's good for you...if you wanted to get big and tall." commented Sarada almost idly eating some of her own scrambled egg for emphasis, this immediately caught the younger girl's attention though as her head whipped around her white eyes blinking rapidly.
"R-really?" questioned the white eyed girl taking another less suspicious look at the egg her brother was still patiently trying to get her to eat. It was at this point that Hinata returned to the table her face shades paler than it was usually as she seemed to struggle to say something.
"Are you okay mom?" asked Sarada after a moment being the only one not enthralled in the egg debate going on among the other children. That seemed to break Hinata from her reprieve though as she turned to the girl almost teary eyed. Quick enough to almost startle the girl the older woman reached out to take the younger woman's hand.
"H-honey. The c-call just now, it was about your f-father...he's woken up." explained Hinata her mind shifting back and forth in debate on whether or not she should tell the girl immediately. She had to though, he was asking for his daughter, it was the only thing he was asking about actually they'd said. Demanding to see his daughter.
"Naruto's bragging about waking up now, what's his problem." snapped the single blonde at the table rolling his eyes but the others were all dreadfully quiet as a silence descended among them. Himawari didn't surprise Boruto, she always got quiet with any mention of their father, but the complete silence otherwise was strange.
"She means my dad Boruto, my dad's woken up." Sarada explained quietly having understood what was happening almost from the look in her foster mother's eyes alone. It had been something she'd been thinking about for a long time, at first for a long time in hopes of him waking up and coming for her and later in worry that he'd do exactly the same thing and take her away from her new family.
"Yes sweetie, he's woken up and he's asking for you. We can, I'll call the school for you today." she was distinctly aware she was rambling and despite herself Hinata cursed out a list of names in her mind. Firstly the doctor that hadn't bothered to call her until Sasuke Uchiha was recovered and almost ready for release looking for his daughter and secondly her estranged husband who they had called as soon as the man had up awoken but who had not found the time to let her know about it.
Her biological children had gone quiet at the revelation though especially Boruto who looked like he'd been slapped, maybe he regretted his joke but Hinata would have to worry about him later.
"Today, I have to go see him today?" asked the girl sharply pulling back from the older woman almost stepping out of her chair. No one seemed too keen on their breakfast's at this point though.
"No, no honey. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do okay." she'd had to make the first move, just like she would for her son climbing out of her chair and keeping hunkered down to allow the girl easier access for a hug. She took the offer awkwardly at first and Hinata privately missed when all three children were still young enough to cuddle without care. The woman also regretted what she was going to do next.
"But your father's been awake for a while and they said he's been asking for you honey." she told the small girl knowing she was guilt tripping her. But she had to take her to see her father, legally speaking Naruto was technically the girl's guardian if he were here maybe. No even then it would be wrong to refuse.
"Is he going to take Sarada away?" asked Boruto quietly after a moment his features schooled in a serious expression that reminded his mother eerily of the boy's father. The question hadn't helped the room at all though as the young Uchiha in her arms pulled back her eyes wide and frightened like she was coming awake into a nightmare and Himawari began to cry shakily sensing her siblings distress. The small girl tumbled out of her own seat grabbing onto her mother and the older girl too.
"Aw no no. We're just going to see him honey that's all." the former Hyuuga woman comforted her children shushing their worries and assuring them that they would still be a family no matter what happened next.
She'd be lying it she said she wasn't worried though.
The room they were in had the bare clinical feel enjoyed by every hospital room, stuffy and chemically clean. An older woman with white eyes stood feeling out of place but only half as much the girl she was accompanying, the young girl couldn't help examining the few photographs spread on the bedside cabinet. There were only three people in all of the pictures. A dark haired boy she instantly recognized as her father if only for the uncanny resemblance between them, another blonde boy that was almost a duplicate of Boruto and an angry looking girl with pink hair that always seemed to be between the two.
She wondered who put the pictures up.
"Did we used to go see him?" asked Sarada after a moment or two of observing the photo's someone had set up to comfort her father when he woke up, though whoever they were they hadn't put any photos of her up. She wondered what that meant.
"Yes, at first, I took you on his birthday but..." Hinata trailed off slightly as the girl spoke up holding another of the pictures carefully, it showed her husband and the girl's father in an awkward half hug.
"I remember. It gave me nightmares didn't it? I remember crying a lot after." spoke the girl looking at the bed that had for the last nine years cradled her comatose father, or maybe it wasn't the same bed. It probably wasn't but it was at least in the same place.
It wasn't even warm when she touched the sheets.
"I thought we'd wait until you were older before trying again...I didn't think-" the white eyed woman managed to stop herself before she could voice that she'd feared Sasuke Uchiha was dead to the world and never waking up. Even with him awake now it seemed like an incredibly poor thing to say.
"Did you ever think of pulling the plug?" asked the dark toned girl peering at her informally adopted mother who looked quite taken aback and outright shocked at what the girl was asking.
"Sarada that's, no, that was never my decision to make." again Hinata had only caught herself before she could say something poorly considered. She thought the idea was horrible, but the last thing the girl needed was to be judged for speaking her mind.
"Was it mine?" she asked back in turn glancing to the bed and Hinata was actually relieved to see some sorrow in the young woman's eyes. She was just having a hard time coping with everything.
"Y-you wouldn't have been old enough honey. It was actually my husband Naruto who made the decision." answered Hinata recalling her husband's admirable refusal to even consider giving up on his friend. He was always good at gestures like that, the big things. She might have told her a little more about that but for the door rattling opened.
Hinata barely noticed Sarada ducking behind the door as the girl's father entered the room his charcoal eyes landing on her sharply. He looked nothing like she remembered from her wedding, least of all because he was missing a large portion of his dominant arm. His hair had grown out too, in a way that surprisingly suited him flowing past his shoulders. The cagey impatient anger in his eyes was still familiar though.
"What are you doing here? Who the hell even are you?" his voice was rough as he pressed his questions moving into the room on slightly shaky legs as he was heavily propped up on a walking cane beneath his remaining hand. She tried not to take it personally, by the time she'd met the man he was often away on missions for long periods and even then it had been almost a decade since he'd seen her. She certainly didn't look the same she knew.
It was an easy fix but...
"She's my mother." Sarada spoke up sharply making herself known to her father in maybe one of the worst ways their reunion could have went. Both Uchiha stared at one another for a brief moment, the girls eyes sweeping over her parent's form before she focused on the stump of his left arm with a childish fascination as her father stared at her with no small amount of confusion...that was until Hinata saw something crumble in the man's eyes and he went stumbling towards the bed.
"Get the doctor sweetie!" Hinata called as she rushed to the man helping him stable himself somewhat. He was shaking a little still as she finally managed to get him settled on the edge of the bed, panicked eyes met her own as a surprisingly strong grip caught one of her own wrists.
"How old is she?" he asked numbly his eyes locking onto hers with a desperation that worried the Hyuuga woman greatly. She'd never been very good at withstanding that look in anyone's eyes...and a one armed coma patient who's daughter she'd been raising upped the ante considerably she was finding.
"S-she's twelve Sasuke." answered the white eyed woman as the doctor Sarada had went in search of entered the room swiftly not followed by her foster daughter. Quietly she excused herself as the doctor looked over the man, eager to escape the former soldier's empty eyed gaze and find Sarada.
Hinata wasn't having a good day so far and she couldn't help fearing that was nothing compared to what her semi adopted daughter must be feeling.
Months down the line.
"Which room is mine?" asked the young girl staring around the living room she'd just stepped into as she dropped her bag into the new pristine white couch she passed. Everything in the room was new, the furniture, the television even the carpeted floor seemed fresh. The place felt cold and austere for it.
"Just at the top of the stairs, do you want me to show you?" asked her father carrying her remaining luggage in. It seemed like a final bell tow for her new fate as the older Uchiha shook the rain free from his long hair. It seemed somehow right that it had been raining when he came to pick her up.
They'd talked, or more precisely her father and Hinata had talked about it. She was welcome any time she was told, it was only down the street she'd be moving, they'd still be seeing each other. She'd heard it all but believed none of it. Sarada knew what this was, how could she expect someone else to raise her now that she had her father back. It wasn't on Hinata, she was already in her debt.
"No. Thank you." the girl spoke moving straight for the stairs barely offering her stone faced father another look. She didn't need to, he'd just continue to look at her exactly the same way he had since he'd gotten out of the hospital, like she were a stranger.
Hinata was no longer obligated to take care of her now but her father was so here she was. Just an obligation switching hands, that's all she was.
"Are you hungry?" he asked his baritone almost echoing in the dead room. She paused on the stairs but kept her eyes on her worn red trainers.
"No. Thank you." she answered again before she continued up the stairs finding her room's door easily and pushing it open. She might have hated this room most of all, even more than the dead showroom catalogue living room or the kitchen that had never been cooked in.
For a start it was blue. She hated blue.
She clicked the door shut and made her way over to the bed. It was soft and it smelled clean, like it had been bathed in bleach and peaches. She didn't bother turning on the lights, she felt like she didn't really have the energy to for a start and besides that what was there to look at if she did? Ugly blue painted walls, an empty dresser and closet, two near empty shelves that had a few books that weren't hers and she had no intention of reading.
The only light in the room was the bare glow whispering its way in through the large window. She liked the window actually, it was odd but she found that the window was the only thing that she liked around the room. Maybe that's what inspired her next move.
It was wet and the light wasn't the best. She should have fallen a dozen times over as she worked her way down from dangerous foothold to even worse ones. She dropped the last few feet to the grass feeling her knees jar as she sunk into the soft soil stumbling. No noise though or she hadn't made enough noise she hoped, to draw any unwanted attention.
So what now, she thought to herself as she found her way out of the back alley. Go back into her father's house by the front door, that would be dumb. So would going to her old home, she was sure she could find it even in the dark but how long would she be there before her father came to pick her up? And could she really handle Hinata's disappointed look, or getting Boruto and Himawari's hopes up?
Ignoring the now torrential rain on her back Sarada took the opposite turn leading away from both her father's and Hinata's homes. She had no intention of just being anyone's obligation.
Twenty minutes later she was cold and soaked as a car crashed through a puddle drenching her in filthy water from the road. She pulled off the street into an alleyway shivering and pulling at her skirt to all but wring the water out of it. It didn't help a lot though as she pulled off her glasses shaking them out and trying to find some dry part of her clothing to make them usable again.
She was too preoccupied to notice the man until he was standing above her.
"What ya doing here girlie?" he had bleached hair slicked back with way too much product and his breath was rotten, as if something had died in his throat. She moved to step away from him without a response but a pale arm hammered the wall just before her face as she went to move, his other arm moved to her other side boxing her in as he leered down.
"Please, let me go." Sarada mumbled over the rain her mind going ninety but coming up with nothing except screaming or kicking him between the legs.
"Oh I'll let you go girl. If you're nice to me." he whined in the back of his throat his hands closing in on her shoulders. She screamed and tried to kick him, but it didn't work out. He hissed in pain but his grip on her only tightened and she found herself spun and forced against the wall her head hitting the bricks painfully as she heard her glasses crunch though the buzz of pain and taste of pennies.
She screamed again, everything in her body unwilling to accept what was happening as she tried to push away. She could feel the creep's hands on her, moving down her sides to the tops of her thighs and the hem of her skirt. She screamed again as she felt the fabric rising.
And then there was a boom of thunder. Or what she thought was thunder but was simply the sound of a prosthetic hand being broken against the side of someone's face. As the hands keeping her against the wall left her she twisted and slide down the cold stone staring at her would-be rapist as he picked himself up out of a puddle bleeding from his ear and taking off running desperately.
Her father's eyes turned to her and she still couldn't read what was written on his face. His fake arm was completely wrecked a massive crack running through it where he'd hit the man, a dominant hand remained dominant it seemed even if it was missing. Black eyes bored down on her as she brought her knees up to hug them.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm only here because of you, everything was fine before you showed back up!" she wasn't sure why she was saying it now, she just didn't care any more. It was his fault she was here, she didn't care that it was unfair. He had to know that, that she'd been happy before. He'd leaned down while she spoke but she'd stopped looking at him now, she just burned holes in her red trainers telling him what she'd been thinking for months now.
"I wish you had died!" there, she'd said it. If he'd died instead of fallen into a coma all that time ago none of this would have been happening. She didn't look up until she felt the hand on her shoulder, and then she saw the pain in her father's eyes.
"D-daddy." it tumbled out accidentally as she felt herself being pulled against his chest. Held desperately the way only one other person had ever held her in her entire life. He held her the way Hinata had, the way a parent should.
In the rain, months after her father had woken up Sarada grabbed him and cried into his chest.
She'd heard about children of divorce, and how they sometimes got spoiled when one parent didn't see their child in so long. Boruto seemed to think that's how it would be for her now, for a while anyway, he assured her it would be all water parks, the circus and fun fairs until she got sick of them. She kind of appreciated that Sasuke didn't bother with that.
After all it was much more fun watching him in the kitchen with Hinata.
"This! Why is your spatula still in plastic? What have you been eating?" the dark haired woman was aghast with almost everything she came across in the kitchen as her father tried openly to be of assistance and more subtly to avoid the Hyuuga's judgement. Himawari in particular seemed to enjoy seeing her mother bossing around the significantly taller man.
There wasn't many places Hinata asserted her will, but the kitchen was definitely one of them.
"Mostly take out." offered Sarada earning a bug eyed look from her former caretaker as she rounded on the sheepish Uchiha man gaping at him. The Uzumaki beside her chorused that with a giggle as she chewed on the lunch Hinata had prepared and brought over, apparently quite justifiably worried about the father and daughter's likely diets.
"That's not true." her father cut in offering her a subtle look of annoyance. She was getting better at telling apart his various blank looks for their tiny give-aways of emotion. Her current aspiration was to make him laugh, and really laugh not sarcastically or politely.
"No, no. There was also plenty of microwave dinners, some cup noodle and poptarts for breakfast. Right Sasuke." the dark haired girl mused watching as Hinata's hands fisted clumps of her dress as she offered the other parent a wide eyed open mouthed look.
"P-pop tarts! Sasuke that's like c-cocaine for kids!" exclaimed the woman rocking her shoulders as she displayed her well known distaste for pop tarts to Sasuke for the first time. The man was almost backing up and he actually shot his daughter a pleading look.
"He looks like you." Himawari spoke up beside her as Sasuke tried to explain himself to the normally sweet woman that was berating him. Sarada blinked taking in the white eyed girl's point, she hadn't really thought too much about it.
"You think so?" she asked in return wishing Boruto were here as well instead of at soccer practice. More opinions would certainly help.
"Uh-huh like I look like mommy, and Boruto looks like..." She trailed off before she mentioned her own biological father. It was about that point their parents joined them apparently done with their arguments about underutilized spatula and the position of pop tarts in the food pyramid.
"Do I look like my mother?" she asked as both adults settled into their seats. Hinata startled, probably for a moment forgetting that it was no longer her sole responsibility to deal with those awkward questions but Sasuke took it in stride shrugging.
"She wore glasses too but not really." he remarked casually, causing Hinata's eyebrows to draw down slightly. She supposed the glasses must have been a hint to who her mother was for the former Hyuuga, or they eliminated a prime suspect. She'd always told the girl she didn't know, though she thought her husband did. Sarada considered the point for a moment, then pulled off her glasses.
"Put these on Sasuke." she ordered passing her father her own glasses. Maybe she'd see the resemblance better, though the older Uchiha only eyed them suspiciously for now.
"Please Papa." he quickly took and donned the offered glasses. Now she saw it.
"Aw how cute." remarked Hinata tapping her father's shoulder lightly as she took in him wearing a school girl's glasses. And that struck a new look on her father's tight features, not quite embarrassment but close. Good embarrassment Sarada thought.
And now she saw something else. Something that gave Sarada some other plans. Romantic comedy inspired plans.
Okay that's the first chapter of this likely short little story. Hopefully it sets the scene well enough. Sarada and Sasuke have only recently reconnected after the latter reawakens, Naruto's estranged from his family for yet to be explained reasons and Hinata is naturally enough super mom having been raising her own children and Sarada as Naruto was technically her legal guardian.
Any questions, compliments, glorious praise or what not, well that's what the review button is for...not to be needy or anything.
Also this should be my fourth update today alone, I could have just coasted maybe updated one or two stories but I thought nah let's do four. It's a lucky number I believe. So if you like then check out my other stories too.
R&R