Sasuke smiled at his friend's barely legible letter.
Teme-
You missed my inauguration! Well. teknically I did too. I'll tell you about that later. Where have you been?
I know you don't want to meet in Konoha cuz the people that are after you but you'll have to
sometimes. I can spare a clone to see you in a couple days, OK?
Sasuke wrote back in his best handwriting with all the flourishes.
Dobe-
Your handwriting is still a disgrace. Save Konoha the embarrassment and have Shikamaru write
the letters from now on. At least he can spell. See you then.
Naruto grinned and shook his head after reading Sasuke's response, muttering,"Show off."
Sakura waited for Sasuke to show. The months passed and she fell into despair. After hearing three reports of
him being in the village to talk to Naruto without even stopping to say anything or drop a line,
even to Sarada, she became enraged.
Naruto was getting seriously tired of being in the middle. Sasuke refused to comment on any
of his questions about why he was ignoring his family. He knew there was a reason of some kind,
with him there always was, but Sakura was beginning to resent him. She could hardly stand
looking at him anymore and when she did it was with a death glare or betrayed hurt. He missed
her smiling at him. He had no leverage though. Whenever he'd jump on Sasuke about how Sakura
was giving him trouble, about hearing from him when she wasn't, the damn Uchiha would just
shunshin away. He'd stopped asking him months ago, but something had to give.
Sarada felt very comforted by her blonde friend and she could see why her mother was fond of him.
Lord seventh could be silly, bumbling even sometimes, but he always got back up and dusted himself
off with a smile. That Boruto couldn't see how wonderful he was bothered her. The caring friendship
between her mother and her former teammate was something she wanted to have one day too.
Even when they fought it was full of affection.
"Hey Sakura!", he smiled and waved.
The pinkette's whole body tensed. "Go away Naruto!"
The kind man furrowed his brows and ran up to her.
"What was that for? What did I do?"
She turned to face him, eyes red rimmed,"I hate you!"
The Seventh's expression softened and he gathered her in his arms,"I'm sorry Sakura."
She let him, even hugged him too, but then pulled back shaking her head."Not sorry enough."
The other teammate her mother had in the village made her nervous. He would stand too close to her
mother sometimes, she would find them whispering upstairs. Sarada wasn't an idiot. She knew what
that look meant and the silver haired nin didn't always get away with trying to hide it from her. She was
beginning to get frantic about her dad making it home. Her mother was angry, lonely, and only human.
The Rokudaime wanted her, and Sarada was scared her fragile family would fall apart if this kept up much longer.
The Copy nin paid her lots of attention and trained her often.
One day, Sarada decided to use this time to scare him away.
"You love my mother."
He only lied about unimportant things. Kakashi nodded, "I do."
"I want you to stay away from her."
The Sixth sighed, dropping his head to his hand.
"What are you afraid of Sarada?"
"You're trying to take her from my dad."
He chuckled and shook his head.
"I would never do that. Your parents love each other and I want your dad to come home.
Part of loving someone is wanting them to be happy."
"So you think my mom will be happy again if dad comes home?"
"I know she would, Sarada."
Sarada bit her lip, her worry bubbling up,"What if she changes her mind?".
"That's not the kind of woman your mother is." He sounded so ….certain.
Sarada looked sadly at the ground, wondering what it was like to love someone who you could never be with,
who wanted someone else.
"Can you find someone else to love then?"
He walked over and ruffled her hair, saying,"That's less up to choice than you think. It's the one time in life
when we need something that may not make sense and it can't be helped."
Alright, maybe he wasn't the evil interloper she imagined he was.
They got closer after that talk. Sarada forgave his little slips of affection, realizing he meant no harm, as long
as they stayed little.
She came home one day to hear them arguing upstairs.
"You said he always does what's right, Sakura. There has to be a reason for this."
"This part is over. It's not coming back! We don't have anything close to a real marriage. He won't even talk
to me! The last time I saw him he said I should give up on the three of us ever being a family, told me he
loved me, slept with me and disappeared."
Knowing well Sakura would not have let a comment like that go, he asked her,
"What did you say when he said you couldn't be a family?"
" I said..,"
That was as far as Sarada got. They were both suddenly silent.
Frightened of being caught and confronted for eavesdropping, and unsure how to feel about what she heard,
she bolted back outside.
Kakashi removed his hand from his lover's lips."I'm sorry Sakura. Sarada was just in the house. She left.
Now.. what did you say to Sasuke?"
"I said I would marry you if he left me alone any longer than he did." She hung her head,
"He promised to leave me alone if it came to that."
Kakashi wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
"Somehow, you have to find a way to accept this. Dreams are dreams, Sakura. Don't throw away what you
have because you want more."
He looked at her then, letting her know with his eyes that if anyone had earned the right to say that, it was him.
He wanted a public marriage and more children, but he was still here. He was two weeks away from having
everything he wanted, and after all his years of being there for her, of knowing he could make her happy,
it was snatched from him again. Here he was, holding her.
She clung to him and began to sob, "I already did."
He wouldn't refute that. He stayed silent until he found something positive to say.
"When you see him again, be the kind girl I know you are."
She nodded into his chest and sighed.
Sakura went to bed that night thinking maybe someday soon all would be well enough.
Then it all went to hell.
The next day, Sarada asked if she was really married to her father.
Her guilt, pain, and wondering blew up inside her.
Sakura screamed and struck the earth in a fit, demolishing her house. Stunned that she had destroyed their
own home, her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell to the ground, fainting.
Sarada ran for Shizune to help her mother in Hokage tower. While waiting for the older woman to gather supplies,the girl
overheard Naruto was meeting her father. Her mother would be recovering and unable to stop her. She
decided to follow Lord Seventh and find out who the redhead in the picture with her dad was, wearing the
same glasses she had on now. She would ask her father herself. Asking her mother wasn't something she
could do to her. There was no other way, and even if there was, she wanted to see him again more than
anything. Sarada grabbed her friend Cho Cho and took off after Naruto.
One of the clones Sasuke had warned Naruto about attacked Sarada and the friend she had brought with her.
Naruto rescued them and once he found out what Sarada was up to he let her tag along. It was safer this
way, but Naruto was hoping maybe if his friend faced the music, whatever was going on would stop.
Sasuke was a real asshole when he was wound up and he wasn't looking forward to how the raven's sensitive
daughter would probably take it. They would have to work that out. He'd do his best to be a buffer.
Sasuke hid himself away in a shadowy corner of an old building to gather himself.
The false Uchiha was hunting him. He had too many clones to fight without resting.
He wasn't as good at hiding as he thought. One of them wandered in, Sharingan blazing. Hoping to capture
the lone one for questioning, he shoved his sword next to it's head to intimidate.
It seemed to work, it froze in terror, so he grabbed for it to rough it up a little.
That's when he heard it. "Papa!"
His eyes wide in alarm he asked,"Sarada?"
She nodded, tears in her eyes.
He knew it. He was a curse. If only she would walk away now so he could fall on his own sword.
