Papa's love language was silent. A whisper of affection or a fleeting touch was what he offered and Sarada could see how her Mama soaked it up like the ground infused with rain after a long drought.
Sarada wasn't sure at first how to accept Papa's love. It was so different from the love she was used to. Mama loved loudly, in the form of bone-crushing hugs and wet kisses. Her Aunt Ino's love was even more thunderous, filling her ears with squeals of affection. So when her Papa gave soft spoken words and hesitant touches, she could only receive them with confusion.
It took time, but it was easier to understand him now. Especially once she learned about his past. Her parents didn't tell her much. When you're older, they had said in unison. But she knew enough now to piece the puzzle together, to find the answer of why her father loved so gently but could fight so ruthlessly.
It was as if he was afraid she would see a different side of him if he suddenly allowed his emotions to bubble to the surface. Her Papa, Sarada realized, wasn't someone who struggled to feel. No, it was that he felt so much he had to reign his emotions in until they seeped out in the form of light forehead taps and fleeting hugs.
He loved at arm's length but not by choice. It was a protective mechanism, something that kept him at bay when his missions took him away from home for long periods of time. Sarada used to resent her Papa for his distance but she saw it all now. The person who suffered the most was him.
She could see it in the way Papa's eyes lit up when Mama looked at him and how his muscles relaxed when his daughter held his hand. She especially saw it in the small smiles that played on his lips when he thought no one was watching. Papa may be a complicated and mysterious man to everyone else but he couldn't hide from his family.
As Sarada watched her father's retreating back at the Konoha gates, she smiled at the way he lovingly clutched at the bento box Mama packed for him. It was then that she also committed to memory the way he softened into their family hug goodbye, as if her and her Mama's arms were specially made for him.
With a voice so loud that she could almost hear her Papa say how much she resembled her mother, Sarada called after him, "We love you, Papa!"
His steps halted for a brief second before he continued, not turning to speak or even acknowledge that he heard her, but Sarada knew the things that he left unspoken. Now, just like her Mama, Sarada could understand him simply through a glance. He didn't need to speak for her to know that he loved her too. Because she now spoke his love language and his love language was silent.
A/N
Hope you all liked this one! Sasuke is an emotionally deprived prick but he's OUR emotionally deprived prick
[SasuSaku Month 2022 Day 20 Prompt: Love Languages]