I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto Masashi does.
The wind blew through her shoulder length pitch black hair as she glanced out from her perch high in the tree, the book in her hands forgotten. It was one of her favourites, yet despite that, the words seemed to swim and blur in front of her eyes until the point where her head ached and her eyes burned.
Sarada knew her parents loved her. She knew it from the way her mother hugged her tight to the way her father kissed her gently on the forehead when he was home from a mission. From when her mother gave her every book she could possibly want, to her father teaching her a new taijutsu kata.
She knew they loved her.
But she didn't think they loved each other.
There were times when it was quiet. When Sarada would come home, and she would be treated to the gift of her father being home and her mother smiling happily. To when her father would touch her mother's shoulder softly, and when her mother would brush a piece of lint off of her father's uniform before he went away.
But this wasn't a quiet time.
She came home from the academy that evening with a few scrolls in her arms and some questions to ask her mother.
Uchiha Sakura was the best medical shinobi in the entire village, if not all the Elemental Nations, and she knew her mother could help her to make sense of her self-appointed biology homework. Sarada hadn't inherited her mother's super-human chakra control, and she didn't have the patience for healing - but she found poisons and their various effects on the human body fascinating. When combined with her budding talent in genjutsu, she knew she would make for a skilled infiltration and assassination shinobi eventually, when she was old enough. That was why she read about and studied the human body with such zeal.
She let herself into the house, remembering to leave her sandals at the door, when she heard a distant smash. Such a sound was alarming in a civilian household, but in a shinobi one it was even more so, as the occupants were considerably less clumsy and accident-prone. So when she heard this sound, her first impulse was to dash towards it, and so she did.
She knew her father was due home today, but she wasn't sure if he was back yet. It didn't matter if he wasn't, her mother was the best kunoichi Sarada knew, and there was no way she couldn't handle herself, even if it was something like an intruder. And if it was an intruder on a level of skill that kaa-chan couldn't handle - that really began to stretch into the realm of impossibility - there wasn't any way that she could help. She knew her limits, and she wasn't even a genin yet.
But the impulse to protect her family was strong, and overrode her common sense.
As she slid on the polished wooden floors in the hall, she suddenly heard an angry scream from her mother, and another smash. She halted as she began to hear parts of what was being said.
"... do you even bother coming back!? You obviously don't want...!"
Sarada's face fell and she swallowed the lump that had appeared in her throat.
Not again.
Her glasses had slipped down her nose slightly, so she pushed them back up in a practiced motion as she walked slowly towards the sitting room.
Her pulse jumped as she heard her father reply, in that low terrifying tone that she hated. He was always so calm when he was angry. She knew what to expect when her mother was loud and emotional, but when otou-san got angry, he was unpredictable. She hated it, because she loved him so much - when he got this way, she felt scared.
She never wanted to be scared of her father.
"I wouldn't have come back if I'd known this was coming."
Sarada's eyes widened behind her glasses. Her hands were shaking as instead of sliding open the doors to the sitting room and confronting the people who were casting the looming shadows on the paper door, she kept walking past to her bedroom. Her footsteps very clearly cut off the vicious reply her mother was about to throw back as her father, and deadly silence accompanied her journey. When she got there she dumped her satchel on the floor, her scrolls on the futon, then lifted her favourite book and tucked it inside her jacket.
She heard the shouting start again. Her fists clenched, and she bit her lip harshly to stop it from trembling.
She then summoned her courage, and retraced her steps.
"... leave then! Look what it's doing to her!"
Her vision was starting to blur as once again she saw the angry shadows dance on the shoji screen to the sitting room, but she stubbornly ignored it and kept walking, putting every emotion that was rushing through her into her steps. She didn't notice as they got louder and faster, until she was nearly running through the hallway towards the door.
Just as she reached the door, she was unable to stop the loud sniff as the tears that burned her eyes finally burst their banks. One ran down each cheek, and she realised suddenly that she wasn't just upset.
Sarada was angry.
She sensed her mother appear in the hallway behind her, the tension making the atmosphere almost suffocate her, pressing on her chest as if trying to force all the sadness out.
"Sarada-chan..."
She slid open the main door, slipped on her sandals and slammed it behind her in one swift movement.
It was possible to see the entirety of Old Konoha from here.
The copse of trees was hidden on top of Yondaime-sama's head on the Hokage Monument. It was low enough not to be seen by the rest of Konoha built on top of the mountain, and the sounds of both halves of the village were muffled, so she was completely alone - most of the time - with her thoughts.
It was so peaceful here, with only the occasional bird that flew past, and a view of the sunset that should be making her happy.
But Sarada didn't want to be happy.
Why did she have parents that hated one another?
Did they only stay together because of her? Then was she making them unhappy?
She never wanted to hurt her parents. She loved them both so so much.
Kaa-chan was smart and strong, the most powerful kunoichi alive - but she was still herself. She was never arrogant, and she always did what was right, always had since she was Sarada's age. Sarada wanted to be exactly like her when she grew up.
Otou-san was strong and smart too, in different ways to her mother. He fought more, and while he was sometimes arrogant (and was teased about it a lot) he also fought for what was right. She didn't know as much about him as she did her mother, but she knew he was a good man.
Her parents were brilliant, strong, righteous people.
Was she the one who made it all wrong?
Suddenly, something large appeared out of thin air beside her, and she gasped, jumping back. Her book fell off her lap to the ground and she almost painfully joined it - however a tanned, grownup hand was resting on her back gently, and it guided her back into place.
Her eyes met kind blue, and she looked down shyly.
"Naruto-jii-san."
"What are you doing up here, Sarada-chan?"
He positioned himself on the same branch as she, his long legs swinging and his coat draped over a separate higher branch.
She knew it was a stupid question to ask the Hokage, but...
"How did you find me up here?"
She wanted to smile at him, but she just couldn't find it inside her.
Naruto completely ignored her forlorn expression, and winked at her. "I'm the Hokage."
Sarada gave him a half-hearted skeptical look, and he grinned.
"Believe it or not, this is my secret place too. I used to come up here when I was your age, although the trees were littler then."
"Well they would have been, that was ages ago." She mumbled, before realising what she said and blushing.
Naruto laughed out loud, and poked her arm fondly. "Blunt, just like Sakura-chan."
The reminder of her mother was enough to bring down her mood once more, and she looked away into the distance.
Unknown to her, Naruto frowned.
"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
When she turned back, his frown was gone, and in its place was a gentle, encouraging look. She pushed up her glasses on reflex, and when the skin around his eyes crinkled slightly, she just couldn't hold it in any longer.
"It's all my fault, jii-san!"
She pulled up her legs onto the branch and wrapped her arms around her knees, burying her face so he wouldn't see her cry. His warm hand rested on her shoulder, and he pushed her up gently to see her face.
"Whatever it is, Sarada-chan, I'm sure that's not true."
She resisted his movement, and pushed her face further into her knees, determined not to humiliate herself any further by showing her tears.
"Otou-san and kaa-chan hate one another, and it's all my fault."
Naruto scowled, but corrected his expression before Sarada happened to catch a glimpse of it. She didn't need to know his irritation at her parents.
"I know for a fact that isn't true."
She sniffed loudly, and looked up at him through her fogged glasses, frustration finally breaking through.
"But it is! They don't love each other, and they have to stay together because of me, and I'm making them hate each other!" Her voice got higher and higher until it croaked, and the second that happened she was pulled into a fatherly hug.
"I promise you, Sarada-chan, look at me." She looked up, and he decided then and there that he was going to give his teammates a piece of his mind for the look in his goddaughter's eyes. They were a grown man and woman, they should be able to stow some of their crap around their girl. But this was Sasuke and Sakura he was talking about. Hardly the most reasonable couple, and they had a fair amount of temper between them. It was a miracle Sarada didn't appear to have inherited it.
"I promise you that isn't true. They love one another very much, and they love you even more."
"B-but they fight all the time, and otou-san isn't even home that much because of missions! And people in love aren't supposed to fight." She stuttered out through tears that she could no longer control, because despite everything, she was still only a child.
Naruto gave a grim chuckle, before sighing.
"It doesn't always work that way Sarada-chan. People always fight, and people in love sometimes fight more than most."
She sniffed again. "What?"
Naruto paused for a moment to think about how to explain this to an eleven year old, before deciding to just go for it. He was good at impulsive speeches.
"People in love... they fight. It isn't because they hate each other, or that they don't actually love each other - it's really because they're in love. Being in love means trusting and relying on someone more than you do any other people in the whole world, and sometimes that can be frightening. The person you are in love with knows more about you than anyone else, but that also means that if you just happen to argue, they can hurt you in worse ways too. It hurts sometimes, but you feel so much for that person that it's worth arguing a bit to love them."
He hesitated for a moment, watching as Sarada absorbed all he was saying with wide and slightly hopeful eyes.
"I argue with Hinata-baa-chan, just like your otou-san and kaa-chan argue. Maybe not as much, but it's just as scary to me too."
Sarada blinked. "But Hinata-baa-chan is so..."
"Calm?" Naruto chuckled in genuine amusement. "Yes, she is. But not all the time. Sometimes I make her angry. Sometimes she makes me angry. Your parents might be in love and married Sarada-chan, but they are still just two people who laugh and fight with each other. If I were to make you and Boruto live together, you would fight, wouldn't you?"
Sarada was slightly distracted by the thought, and screwed up her nose.
"Yes. But I'm not in love with him."
Naruto hid his amusement at her revulsion at the thought of loving his son. Still at the age where boy germs exist, it seems.
"I know. But it's the same, except your parents love each other too."
Sarada was silent as she processed what he had told her, and as her tears began to dry on her cheeks.
Naruto nodded to himself. He had this parenting thing down.
"So... Otou-san and kaa-chan still love each other?"
Naruto nodded. "Very much. I'm their teammate - I would know, ne? And they still love you just as much. You just have to remember that no matter how much they might fight, they adore you. I know they both think the world of you.
"Do you know what your mother said to Hinata-chan when you were born?"
Sarada shook her head.
"She said you were wonderful, and the way she looked at you was as if you lit up her entire world. And don't even get me started on Sasuke."
He got a mischievous look in his eye.
"He used to carry you about for days when he didn't have missions. He literally refused to put you down. He would feed you, wash you, do whatever you needed. Sakura-chan used to joke that it was a mini holiday for her."
Sarada giggled, and removed her glasses to wipe away the last of her tears.
"Thank you, Naruto-jii-san."
He smiled widely at her. "Always, Sarada-chan. Your parents love you and each other so, so much, even if it isn't always obvious."
She nodded, a peace in her eyes that Naruto was pleased to see there, and they sat in silence for a while until the sun was completely down, and only a faint glow was left from the sun. Sarada leaned against the trunk of the tree and curled up slightly, taking comfort in her new found knowledge and the presence of her godfather. As her eyes drooped, she smiled, as she should have known he would make everything better.
Konoha was lit up in different colours from windows and shops, and Naruto looked out over his village, and he was glad to know that he had helped another one of his children. This was why he had become Hokage.
The smallest sound behind him made him tense for a split second before he realised what it was. He quietly slipped back on his coat, before looking over at the young girl.
"Sarada-chan?"
"Hm, jii-san?"
"You know I asked him why he used to carry you around all the time, why he never once put you down, I never got an answer. I would ask again and again, but nothing. Then once, we were sitting outside your house in the middle of the night, just having come back from a diplomatic mission to Kiri. You were asleep in his arms, Boruto was asleep in mine. I asked one more time, not expecting much, but he answered."
Sarada waited sleepily, yawning, but Naruto didn't continue.
"What did he say, jii-san?"
Then she was wrapped up in familiar arms, her book placed upon her lap, and she was flying through the air, down the mountain. A flash of pink was following at her side, and she recognised the mildly regretful but loving face of her mother.
Then otou-san spoke, and the words that shook his chest, resounded through her very soul, cementing her family together with unbreakable bonds.
"I said because she is my daughter, and I'll never leave her."
Okay wow, this was totally unexpected. I prepared for a drabble, and instead wrote almost 3000 words. But what can you do?
This was sadder than I wanted it to be, but I really like how it turned out. Let me know what you think?
Yeah, I've firmly fallen hard for the Uchiha family. Expect more in the future.