Third Person's POV
It started a couple of weeks after Sarada's birthday. During school, Sarada was mostly quiet, and didn't have many friends, but was able to be goofy and have fun with her classmates. When she wasn't doing that, she was either reading, or in the art room, and no one really cared.
However, there is always some kind of bully in a grade, hurting others to make themselves feel better about their life or insecurities, and unfortunately for Sarada, that bully and her friends are in her homeroom class.
Sarada wasn't their initial target. Another girl in their class was. A chubby girl named Cho Cho. Cho Cho is known to be quite sassy and always has the best snacks that many would go to her during lunch or when they were allowed to have a snack. Sarada and Cho Cho didn't talk a lot with each other. They weren't friends, and didn't even sit near each other in class.
Cho Cho did sit near Aimi though. The class bully along with her friends. None of the kids in class knew that she was a bully because she never did or said anything to the students in that said class... yet. Cho Cho was the first target. It started when Cho Cho was invited to sit with them during lunch.
At first, it seemed like they wanted to be friends with her. They would invite her out and she would walk with them to classes and play with them at recess. But during the time they were "friends", Aimi and her backup constantly made fun of Cho Cho. Mostly about her wait and the way she would talk sometime. Whenever Cho Cho got defensive about it, Aimi would claim that she was joking, and Cho Cho shouldn't be so sensitive.
Sarada first noticed this happening one time in class when the students all formed groups and worked on a science project. Sarada wasn't in her group, but was next to Cho Cho and Aimi's group, so she could hear everything. "Cho Cho, have you gained more weight?" Aimi asked.
"Uh... I don't think so."
"Really? I think you did. You used to look a lot thinner, but now you're a hippo!" This comment made Aimi's friends in the group giggle. "You really need to cut back on food. If you don't, no one is going to like you! You're lucky that we are here and hanging out with you. If we weren't, no one would!" Sarada finally turned her head towards them. Cho Cho had her head down, and was fiddling with her sleeves.
"Yeah... maybe you're right," Cho Cho muttered.
"Oh calm down, I was only kidding!" From that day on, Sarada kept her eye on Cho Cho, and quickly realized that the girl she once knew was gone. Cho Cho never made any sassy remarks, she almost never spoke. She didn't bring in any snacks for herself and others. She wasn't Cho Cho anymore.
One day, Sarada had enough of their constant belittling, and decided to do something about it. During lunch, Aimi would shout and grab Cho Cho's arm and drag her to the table she sits at, but Sarada stopped her today by grabbing the arm that Aimi wasn't holding onto. Both her and Cho Cho looked at Sarada with confusion. "Um, Cho Cho. Do you want to sit with me for lunch?" Cho Cho didn't respond. Instead, Aimi spoke.
"She sits with us four eyes." Sarada didn't let the comment bug her, and turned to Cho Cho who was looking at her, almost pleading for Sarada to help her.
Sarada's grip on Cho Cho's arm tightened and she stood her ground. "I know that, but t I thought she would like this book I'm reading, and I wanted to show her. You wouldn't care if we sat together for one day, right?"
Aimi's eyes narrowed at Sarada, giving her a deadly glare. After a couple of seconds of doing that, she laughed and let go of her arm. "Of course." Aimi then started walking ahead of them and waved back to Cho Cho. "See you later."
From then on, Cho Cho sat with Sarada at lunch. Then, whenever a teacher would ask for the kids to form partners, Sarada would go to Cho Cho very fast so Aimi wouldn't. Soon, Cho Cho wasn't hanging out with Aimi and her group anymore, and would hang out with Sarada, but she still wasn't herself fully.
Both of them thought that the bullying would end, but they were wrong. Aimi didn't stop bullying, she moved onto a new target, and her new one was Sarada.
It wasn't something that Sarada couldn't handle at first because it was mostly harsh comments. It got worse though, because Aimi wasn't getting a reaction or anything from Sarada she stepped it up. Instead of directly attacking Sarada, she went to her classmates, and any of the kids who would talk and play with her.
Whenever they had to form groups with each other, everyone would stay away from Sarada, until the teacher would put her in a group. At lunch, no one would sit with her or even let her sit with them in fear of getting bullied by Aimi. Even Cho Cho stayed away, leaving Sarada alone and neglected by her classmates.
This did hurt Sarada, but she refused to let Aimi win, and stayed strong. It wasn't too hard for her because lots of her hobbies like reading or drawing were done by herself, and she still could talk to her art teacher.
Aimi didn't stop there. She took it further. Aimi and her friends would go up to Sarada directly, and it was easy because she was alone. "Hey Sarada, we were just talking about what our parent's jobs are. What are yours?"
Sarada didn't want to respond to her. She just wanted to read one of the new books Sakura gave her, but did so Aimi would go away. "My Papa is a waiter."
"And your mom?"
"...?" Sarada didn't answer, but questioned why they were asking her that, because they knew that Sarada doesn't know her mom.
Aimi then clapped her hands together and spoke as if she just remembered. "Oh that's right! Your mom didn't love you, so she left." Her friends beside her giggled. Sarada tightened her fists, but kept calm. "Your dad probably doesn't love you too, but feels bad for you so keeps you around. It must be hard for him, having to take care of you. Don't you think?" Before Sarada could snap, she gulped down her words and stayed silent. "Really, nothing?" Aimi crosses her arms. "Now you can't speak?" Sarada stayed silent, knowing that if she did speak, she would show them that they got to her, and that they won. "Whatever, let's go."
Later on, Aimi went around spreading many rumors about Sarada and her family. Some about how her mother hated her, and that her father tried to put her up for adoption because she is such a pain, and hoped to get a reaction out of Sarada, but she didn't budge. She refused to, because if there is one thing she learned from her father, it is how to not let people see that they get to you, and how to hide emotions.
During the art exhibit, Aimi decided to take a punch at Sarada's art skills. She found Sarada through her art, and took another opportunity to hurt her. "Sarada, what's wrong with your paintings? It looks like something my baby cousin would barf up." Aimi came along with two other of her friends, who kept giggling and whispering to each other, making an unsettling feeling shoot through Sarada's stomach. "And why is it all space junk?"
"I like space," Sarada said.
"Do you want to be an astronaut?" Sarada was about to say no, but Aimi continued before she could. "The world would probably be better that way. With you, your ugly drawings and dumb books, up in space where no one can get bothered by them." Now, all three of them laughed out loud while Sarada bit her lip, and brought her head down.
Aimi would have continued, but noticed three figures coming from behind Sarada, one being Sasuke Uchiha, Sarada's father. "See you in school," she said and walked away with her clones following behind.
Once summer came around. Sarada didn't hear from Aimi or anyone for the vacation. Giving her some peace, but not too much because she would constantly be thinking of what Aimi has said to her at night, and letting a fearful tears fall. It wasn't the greatest summer for her, but better than being in school, so when the first day came around, Sarada couldn't get out of bed, and once she finally did, she got a major stomach ache, and knew that she wanted to stay home, but being unable to say anything beyond my stomach hurt to her father, she went to school.
Fortunately for Sarada, Aimi wasn't in her class, but unfortunately, her friends were. Sarada dreamed that the bullying would end since Aimi wasn't near her, and she could have a normal school year, but that was only a dream. She rapidly learned that Aimi and her friends had created a game called 'Who Could Make Sarada Uchiha Cry?'. Most of the girls would just trip Sarada and call her names to get her to cry, but Sarada wouldn't, until today.
Sarada owned a sketch book that she drew in all the time. There were a ton of drawings that she worked really hard on. Some in color, some with fancy art tools, some in a regular pencil, but they all meant so much to her. She spent the whole summer working on them and hoping to show them off, but she never got to.
Aimi's friends soon learned about the book, and told Aimi about it, giving her an idea.
During recess and lunch, the students would keep their bags in their classrooms, and that is where Sarada left her sketchbook. After lunch ended, the students would go back to class. When Sarada got back to class, she noticed something wrong with her bag. Her sketchbook was missing. She examined her classroom thinking that it was in there, but she couldn't find it.
Before she could leave the classroom and look for it, the teacher started the lesson, so she couldn't leave. After that class, she had a couple more to go through, so she decided to search at the end of the day before going out to see her dad.
Social studies finally ended, and Sarada was ready to leave and find her book. After turning in her paper to her teacher, she jogged to her seat and grabbed her bag. Behind her, she could hear some girls laughing towards her. More specifically, Aimi's friends. "Where is my sketch book?" Sarada said sternly.
"I have no idea what you are talking about Sarada," one of them said while the others tried to hold in their laughs.
"I know one of you took it. Where did you put it?" All of them finally let out their laughs and whispered to each other. Realizing that they would never tell, Sarada went back to her seat and grabbed her stuff.
"Girl's bathroom near the library." Sarada jolts her head up to the girl who sits next to her. Sumire. A kind, smart girl who is always quick to help out a teacher. She is known as the teacher's pet, and she doesn't really care.
Sarada scrunched up her face in confusion as to why she would whisper that to her. Sumire's leg trembled a little, and she looked scared. "What?" Sarada asked.
"Your book."
"How do you know that?" Sumire jumped up from her seat and left the room instead of answering, leaving Sarada wondering the why and how, but rather than questioning it, Sarada ran to the bathroom to figure out if it was true.
Once she was in the bathroom, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary, until she opened the stalls. The small ones had nothing in them, but not the big one.
In it was Sarada's sketch book, ripped and clogged in the toilet. Some of the pages were torn out and scribbled on with a sharpie. Others were probably in the drain, but it didn't matter where they were. They were all ruined.
This was the last blow, and it hurt the most. Sarada dropped down to her knees, and salty drops of water fell from her face. They finally got to her.
At this point, Sarada was bawling on the floor, her glasses no longer on her face and one the floor, along with her body. She cried for over ten minutes, thinking about what she did wrong. What she did to deserve this. "Why?" she kept trying to say over her wailing.
She was able to calm herself down a little so she wasn't bawling, but still crying, and being unable to breath, but then she heard a voice call out from out of the stall. "Sarada?" She tried her best to quiet her breathing so that voice wouldn't hear her. "Sarada, it's Sakura. Please come out."
Sarada no longer feels a need to hide anymore. Not from Sakura, who has always been kind to her, and who makes her feel happy and safe. She doesn't bother to wipe her face when she stands up from the floor and walks to the stall door. Since her head is down, she can see Sakura's shoes. After glancing at them, she slowly turned the lock, and opened the door, facing the slim, beautiful woman seeing her father.
"Oh Sarada," is all Sakura can say after hearing Sarada's story. "I'm so sorry it took me this long to realize something like this was going on."
Both now sit on the floor of the big stall, with their backs resting on the wall and Sarada resting her head on Sakura's shoulder. "Don't be," Sarada mumbles.
"...You know, I was bullied too," Sakura starts, grabbing Sarada's attention. "Mostly for my looks." Saying that shocks Sarada.
"Your looks? But why? You are so pretty." Sakura giggles at Sarada.
"Well, some people thought differently. There came a point where I couldn't take it and I would cry in the bathroom."
"I don't want to cry. I wanna be strong."
Sakura then moves her hand up to Sarada's face and put some of the small strands of hair in her face, behind her ear, making her look at Sakura directly in her eyes. "You are strong Sarada. You stood up for that girl who was being bullied first, and you befriended her. Don't ever say you're not strong. Not anyone would just stand up to a bully like you did."
"...How did you get through all the bullying when it happened to you?"
"Well, not that well. I hid it from my family, and asked to switch to a different school. That didn't work. So I claimed that my homeroom teacher and I didn't work well together and I wanted to switch classes. My choice was to run away, and it wasn't a good one. That's why you need to speak up about this, and not hide it anymore. This has gone on for too long and far."
"I can't. If I speak about it, I will worry Papa."
"Sarada, your father is already worried. He and I were just running around the school looking for you. I know you think that hiding your feelings from your dad will make him less stressed and worried, but it's actually the opposite. He is scared that you don't tell him how you really feel. He thinks that he is a failure of a dad and can't communicate right with you."
"He does?!"
"Yeah. Please talk to him. It would be better if we all be honest with each other, and stop hiding things. What do you say?"
Sarada glances one more time at Sakura, and takes a deep breath. "Okay." Sakura smiles at Sarada and wipes some of the tears that haven't dried up yet, before standing.
"What do you want to do about your book?"
Sarada rises from the ground and says, "Just toss it. It's worthless now." Sakura hesitates to do so, but once Sarada walks out of the stall, Sakura picks it out of the toilet and tosses it in the trash.
"My face is really red and gross," Sarada says as she examines herself in the mirror.
Sakura goes to the sink next to Sarada and washes her hands. "Splash some water on your face."
As Sarada does that, Sakura dries off her hands and pulls out her phone and texts Sasuke.
Sakura: I found Sarada. We are in the bathroom by the library.
Sasuke: Thank God! Wait there. I will come to you.
"Sarada, let's wait for Sasuke outside." Sarada dries her face too, and puts her glasses on again.
Both females walk out of the bathroom and wait for Sasuke by the water fountain. "Remember what we agreed on."
"I know," Sarada says.
"Sarada!" A deep voice shouts across the hallway, making Sarada and Sakura turn their heads to see Sasuke jogging to them. Sarada walks away from the fountain and to the middle of the hallway, waiting for Sasuke.
Once Sasuke reaches her, he engulfs her in a hug and squeezes so much, Sarada eyes shut and she struggles to breath. "I have been looking everywhere for you. Where have you been?!"
"I was in the bathroom."
Sasuke ends the hug and shakes Sarada's shoulders a little. "Why were you in there for so long?! Why do you look like you are crying?" Now, Sarada is able to see her father's face, and she is finally aware of what Sakura was talking about. In his eyes, she sees a lot of fear and panic, but also relief from finding her. Sarada turns to Sakura, who gives her a reassuring nod. She then faces her father again and takes a breath before speaking.
"Papa, I have to tell you something."