Summary: Contrary to popular belief, Sarada's favorite Jiji is Sai.
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For Sarada, it started as an inane fascination with the bright colors that Sai-jiji always used; the pastels that would make paper look magical, the splotches of water color that could somehow miraculously look like a picture, the pencil colors that could merge together to create delightful shades. Whenever she would be dropped off at Ino-obaa-chan's for babysitting, she would gather herself and waddle to Sai-jiji and just watch him work on whatever he was creating. He would look at her, smile curiously and go back to work. Whenever she would ask questions and he would answer. She found it enchanting. She found him enchanting
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In his heart of hearts, Sasuke was always a little miffed that his daughter had taken an inexplicable shine to Sai-of the creepy smiles and perverse idiosyncrasies. He had long since resigned himself to the fact that all his spawn would have a baffling love for all things orange, blond and ramen, so when Sarada started looking at Sai with sparkly, adoring eyes, at the tender age of 6 months he was legitimately perplexed. It only nurtured with age; whenever they would meet him, she would run to his side and have actual teasing, intelligent conversation and Sasuke would always be left wondering what had went wrong.
"Sai-jiji!" she would run to him. And he would smile-an honest to God, authentic smile-and take her hand while Inojin would sniff snootily.
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When Ino and Sai had announced their impending marriage, sakura had been skeptical. But as one of Sai's important people, she had seen him grow from an emotionless husk of a person to a fledgling boy with hesitant hopes and dreams, still more than a little awkward at times but getting there none the less. So despite a tiny seed of doubt in her mind, she had supported them unconditionally. It had turned out to be a surprisingly good match; while Ino was bright, shiny and a little bit obnoxious, Sai was calm, soft and blooming in the brightness that Ino emanated. While she was the sun, he was the moon. They were happy. Sakura was proud of how far Sai had come.
She was pleasantly surprised by Sarada's uncanny devotion to Sai, though. Never in a million years had she imagined that a child would take such unaccountable liking to someone like Sai, much less her daughter.
"Sai-jii!" she would cry happily, while Ino and Sakura would look on fondly.
"I made a portrait for you," she would thrust a paper at him. Sai would smile—genuinely smile, Sakura marveled—and pat her on the head awkwardly. And to her surprise, Sai would have enough tact to not obnoxiously criticize her work. Instead, he would sit by her side and show her new techniques to use on her desired medium.
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It irked Naruto to no end that he was not Sarada's favorite Oji-chan. It irked him even more when she looked at Sai—Sai of all people—with sparkles in her eyes. He never ever, not in a million years imagined that he wouldn't be the one to spoil Sasuke-teme's child. So whenever they would gather for the monthly Team 7 dinner, he would look on sulkily while Sarada would scoot closer to Sai and tell him all the little things that she should have been telling her Naruto-jiji.
"Did you know Sai-jiji?" she would say with bright eyes. "Almonds are a member of the peach family." And Sai would put a hand on her head and say, "I didn't know that Pretty Girl." And she would beam at him beatifically while Naruto would give them the stink eye, Sasuke would look exasperatedly pained and Sakura would smile curiously. Kakashi would turn a page in his book—only his eye would be crinkled in a smug smile.
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When she was put to bed, Sasuke would look at his wife and wonder aloud, "How in the world did this even happen?"
Sakura, always knowing what he was talking about, would give him a condescending look and shake her head in amused resignation. "Damned if I knew."
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"Sai-jiji?" she looks at him one day. She's not quite meeting his eyes and it makes him nervous.
"Yes, Pretty Girl?" he smiles at her, because once upon a time he'd read in a book that smiling at people puts them at ease.
"Jiji, I don't like it when Papa goes away for long missions." She states, and then looks at him expectantly. He looks at her, then he looks at the wall and thinks about what to say. He's a father himself now, and he understands the love a person harbors for their offspring. Unbidden his eyes find Inojin, who's absorbed deep in his sketchbook, and his lips twitch into a smile. He looks back at Sarada and puts an affectionate hand on her hair. He smiles and says, "I don't think he wants to. Its just that he has to."
"That makes no sense, Jiji," she scowls at him.
"Someday, it will, Pretty Girl," he ruffles her hair and puts his arm around her shoulder in a one armed hug. She snuggles into his embrace and looks in the distance, where she can see the silhouettes of her Mama and Papa holding hands, coming to pick her up.
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fin