Sarada took the scenic route home, jogging along the dirt track which looped around the village. The warm air would be cooling rapidly as the early autumn nights set in and Sadara couldn't wait for the clear wintry nights swimming in moonlight.

She pulled her house key expecting her mum to have left already, only to find the door suspiciously unlocked. She warily drew a kunai without a sound and lightly stepped into the porch. Her mother's house shoes and sandals were missing but a large pair of black shinobi sandals were placed neatly on the shelf. Sadara huffed lightly and casually slid the kunai back into its holster, abandoned the stealth and placed her own sandals on the practically empty shelf.

Stepping into the kitchen, Sadara's acute senses were met with a somewhat familiar presence.

"I guess I'm cooking for two tonight, Father?" Sadara commented, pulling a bag of rice out of the cupboard.

"No need, the Hokage invited us over to dinner," Sasuke replied, "How did you know it was me?"

Sadara smirked slightly as she placed the rice away again.

"Enemy ninja don't tend to leave their sandals neatly by the back door once they've broken in."

Sasuke chuckled as he too smirked slightly.

"Does mum know you're home?" Sadara questioned.

"Not as far as I know, Naruto told me she's spending the week in Suna."

"I'll go get my cloak; it'll be colder once we leave Uzumaki –Sama's." Sadara neither confirmed or disagreed with her father.

"Hey, Salad- Chan!" Bolt bounced over as the two Uchiha entered the Uzumaki family home.

"Stop calling me that blondie," Sadara stated lowly.

"Only if you stop calling me 'Blondie'" Bolt bargained.

"Not a chance."

"I guess we've come to a stalemate then."

"It appears we have."

"Mum's nearly got food ready and Hima probably needs help with the table."

"Okay."

The two walked off into the kitchen without another word, leaving the two fathers at the door.

"Ya know this is your fault for naming her that, right?" Naruto stated bluntly.

Sasuke ignored his friend's comment and voiced his thoughts as he stared after his daughter.

"I never realized the two of them were such close friends. She's so much more relaxed here than with me."

Naruto clapped a hand on the raven's shoulder, "they're team mates and they understand each other well. And besides, Sadara barely saw much of you as a child so it's probably difficult for her to treat you differently to 'The Mighty Uchiha' everybody else sees you as."

Sasuke dismissed the blonde's lack of tact and pondered for a moment, "her childhood went so fast, I've missed so much."

Naruto grinned wolfishly and clapped Sasuke on the shoulder again, "It seems you're not the arrogant sod you one were. Maybe I finally did beat some sense into you."

Sasuke scowled and playfully shoved the blonde in the direction of the kitchen and dining room.

"So Sadara, Bolt tells me that Konohamaru is helping the two of you develop your own styles ready for the Chunin exams?"

The two families were nearing the end of their meal when the Hokage bought up training.

Sadara paused for a moment having thought nothing of the topic since training.

"Uh... yes, Uzumaki-Sama." The young kunoichi answered carefully.

The blonde grumbled about just calling him 'Naruto' when he wasn't working but Sasuke spoke before he could talk.

"You never said anything about training or exams Sadara."

Sadara wanted to drop her gaze but forced herself to look her father in the eye.

"Sorry Pa-Father, we haven't really had time to talk much yet and you didn't ask," Sadara answered, correcting her-self before she called him 'Papa'.

Sasuke seemed taken aback by the formality of her statement but Sadara's expression remained impassive.

The two Uchiha contributed to conversation only in passing for the rest of the night and once the moon signaled nine o'clock, they politely took their leave from the Uzumaki household.

"Bye Salad-Chan!" Bolt and Himawari waved enthusiastically from the door.

Sadara returned the wave and then turned to follow her father home.

Sadara closed her eyes enjoying the cool moonlight, noticing with her eyes open that the grey glow shimmered off Sasuke's shoulder length hair similarly to her own.

"You know you can talk to me like any other dad, right?" Sasuke broke the silence.

"I remember when you used to be home a lot before I started the academy," Sadara stated on a seemingly totally unrelated topic, "You and Uzumaki-sama used to pick Bolt and I up from the park, even though we didn't get along you always made Bolt and I stay together."

Sadara paused, remembering the time.

"And then one day you were barely there anymore; and I started at school and Mum trained me instead of you."

Sasuke felt ashamed and also shocked at the perfectly casual and un-emotive way his daughter explained things.

"I didn't mean to be away from you for so long," he tried to explain, "but I got wrapped up in work and the years flew by."

"I know, I'm not blaming you," Sadara stated, "Mum and I would have struggled a lot if you hadn't worked so much. But it's like I'm just Sadara Haruno now, unless someone's telling me how much of a genius I must be like the other Uchiha."

Sadara didn't mean for it to sound harsh; and she wasn't sure if she was saying it because she was bothered by her father's lack of communication, or because a small part of her hoped that maybe it might make him stay for a little longer.

The small family reached home and Sasuke looked like he wanted to say something, but settled for a comforting grip on his daughter's shoulder and sincere eyes before she wished him goodnight.

A/N- Okay, I'm sorry this is not much of a plot development, but I kind of wanted to get the relationship between Sarada and Sasuke established.

Thanks for reading!