A/N: I've been working on this story for a while now. What I wanted to write about and what the story tells you are a bit different, since the plot has changed significantly from what I had had in mind when I've started writing it. It's still a family-centred, post-manga piece that is made out of angst, tears, laughter, some humour and a lot of family feels.
The prologue you're about to read is probably the shortest chapter in this story, because I didn't want to give you too much information. After all it's no fun to know the entire plot at the very beginning, right? Just for the record, I want to say that this chapter is the only truly sad one and that the rest will be (hopefully) way more fun to read.
Anyway, I hope you'll like it. If you do, please like and review (you can PM me too, if you want!)~
Enjoy!

WHERE YOU HIDE

"Now hush little baby, don't you cry
Everything's gonna be alright
Stiffen that upper lip up little lady, I told ya
Daddy's here to hold ya through the night"
-Eminem, "Mockingbird"

"Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten."
-David Ogden Stiers

"I'll find the places where you hide
I'll be the dawn on your worst night
Only thing left in our life"
-One Republic, "What you wanted"

Prologue

"Papa, move your phone back a little."

"Like this?"

"No." She shook her head even though he couldn't probably see it. "It's not enough. Try a bit more."

"Is it okay now?"

Sarada's head landed on the table with an audible bang and her father snorted, clearly amused by her overly dramatic behaviour.

"I can only see one of your eyes and your nose, so no, it's not," she murmured, but her father was still able to hear her.

"Don't sass me, young lady," he replied and she didn't even have to look up to know that he was glaring at her, although there was no ill intent behind said glare.

She finally rose her head from where it was previously resting on the surface of the kitchen table. Putting her chin on her entwined fingers, she directed her gaze onto the screen of her laptop that was now displaying a slightly grainy image of her father.

Or rather a part of his face.

"Gosh, can you please just listen to me for once? You're unbelievable!"

He snorted again and finally did what she had told him to do. The first thing she noticed about him, after a week of not seeing him and barely any contact at all, were the prominent dark shadows under his eyes, which were a clear indication of his exhaustion. Even though he was smiling slightly and tried his hardest to seem at ease, he looked stressed out and Sarada couldn't help but worry that this mission was too much for him.

At the age of thirty-eight, her father was far from old, but the last couple of weeks had put a serious strain on him and he appeared much older because of it, as if he was carrying the weight of the universe on his shoulders and was a moment way from getting crushed by it.

"How are things?" She asked quietly, suddenly unable to joke around anymore. The smile slipped from her father's face and he sighed heavily, apparently either unable or unwilling to play charades anymore.

"We haven't found her yet…" He admitted quietly, evidently avoiding looking into her eyes. "Kiba was able to find a trace of her smell last week, but the trail broke off about five miles south and we haven't been able to locate it since then… On the good note though some people in the area have seen her, so we're going to keep looking here for a while."

"But you still don't know where she is?"

"No."

There was a moment of silence. Sarada didn't know if she was even capable of speaking at this point without breaking into tears. She was old enough to understand some things better than her siblings, but it didn't mean she was immune to the emotional effects they had on her.

The sudden disappearance of her mother made her realize that even though she liked to think of herself as an adult, she still needed her parents and craved their love.

Without mama, things at home were difficult to say the least. Grandpa and grandma Haruno were taking care of them for the time being, since papa had been put on the search team, and they had a lot of aunts and uncles, who were really helpful as well, but nothing could ever compare to their parents. As the oldest of five, she was now the person her younger siblings treated like their guardian and the responsibility was getting to her. Sarada was only fourteen, but, while she liked cuddling, she wasn't the one who need it the most. It didn't change the fact that right now she would have really liked for one of her parents to give her a warm hug and tell her that everything was going to be okay, no matter how shallow and untrue those words would have been.

"I miss her…" She said quietly, trying her hardest to be brave.

"I know. We all do." Papa smiled at her, although the expression didn't reach his eyes. "I promise I'll find her. You have my word. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Now. Tell me something about your siblings. How are you all holding up?"

"They are okay, I guess." Sarada returned his smile which turned out just as broken at the edges as his was. "Itachi is doing great at the Academy, as always. Tsuna is okay too. The twins are probably giving Konohamaru-sensei some serious nightmares though. Grandma was really angry at them the other day, because they've pranked someone and made a horrible mess. She was forced to pick them up, talk to uncle Naruto about it and she wasn't happy. Just like mama wouldn't have been, I guess."

"Will I have to pay for something when I'm back?"

Sarada giggled.

"No. It was pretty harmless. The only real problem was the mess, actually."

"Hn." He nodded slowly. "And how was your mission?"

She looked down at her lap and shifted nervously in her seat.

"We didn't go..." She mumbled. "Sensei said that I should maybe stay home for now."

With her face downcast she couldn't see her father, but she could imagine in vivid detail the look on his face.

"Did you want to go?" He asked after a moment.

"I don't know," she responded truthfully, still avoiding his gaze. "I feel like I should be home… Because mama and you are not. And 'Tachi might need some help with homework. Or Shi and Miko might want to play with me. Or Tsuna might want a hug and someone to sing her a lullaby. They might need me, you know? And grandma is okay for all of it, I guess, but she is not mama and I'm not mama too, but… B-but I feel like I need to step in, you know. For them… And… And…"

She couldn't talk anymore. A sob escaped her throat and before long she was crying, too scared for the future and worried about her mother to really care.

A pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders, squeezing her tightly against a small body. She never heard him come into the room, but Itachi was probably the quietest person she knew. Without giving it much thought, she returned his embrace, bringing him closer to her and crying rivers into his shoulder.

After what felt like hours, she was finally able to breathe normally. Calm once again, she straightened up and looked at the monitor in time to see her father wipe his cheek, which appeared strangely wet.

"I'm sorry, papa."

And she was. He had enough things to worry about without her making a spectacle out of herself. She wanted to be just as strong as he needed her to be.

"I understand. Don't worry about it." His eyes moved to Itachi, who was still standing next to her. "Itachi, you should be sleeping."

"I know, papa."

They seemed to share a brief silent conversation for a short moment, with meaningful looks instead of actual words, before Itachi gave her a brief hug, said goodnight to both of them and went back to his room.

"He is worried about you," papa said when they heard a distant click of closing doors down the hallway.

"Yeah. Then again he always worries about stuff."

It was true. Itachi was a gentle person by nature and even though he was only nine, he understood more than they probably gave him credit for. The two of them were as close as siblings could be. Whenever one of them was sad or in distress, the other could somehow sense it, as if they had a built-in mechanism that allowed them to read each other's feelings and emotions even from a distance. Itachi didn't know that their mother went MIA, but he probably suspected it by now, which in turn made him worry.

Papa sighed heavily. She observed him as he brought his good arm up and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'll be back soon," he said. "Naruto wants us in Konoha before the end of the week to report and I think I won't be going back out again, at least for a while."He looked her straight in the eyes."Would you like that, Sarada?"

She nodded mutely and sniffed, feeling something akin to happiness for the first time in weeks.

"And you promise you'll find her?"

"Yes. I swear I'll bring her back to us."