Uchiha House
Sarada sat alone at home once again waiting for mama to come back from work. She couldn't stop thinking about this 'Eichi-kun' figure.
He was so friendly with mama it gave her a concerned gut feeling. Mama seemed to be very happy and comfortable around him... exactly how long had they been working together? Sarada had visited the hospital enough times to remember the faces of mamas colleagues but she never recalled seeing that man before...
Sarada looked over towards their family portrait looking at Sasuke.
"Papa..." she said longingly. "Won't you come home soon?"
Sarada sighed leaning back on the couch staring up at the ceiling again wondering where Sasuke might be. It crossed her mind that maybe papa was friendly with another woman like mama was friendly with Eichi...
'They're just friends... they're just friends...' Sarada assured herself.
Sarada shot up as she heard the door open. She ran over beaming and excited then suddenly became confused as she saw that same man whom she was just thinking about and had met earlier at the hospital, Eichi, walking in behind her mother.
"Heh?" Sarada squeaked in confusion.
"Sarada. I told you I would be home early didn't I?" Sakura cheerfully said as she entered opening the door wider for Eichi who was holding two full grocery bags.
"What's he doing here?" Sarada asked seeing he had removed his shoes.
"Eichi-kun is here to eat dinner with us. I wanted to thank him for kindly sharing his lunch with me." Sakura said. Eichi smiled at her, his face turning pink.
"Oh it was no issue at all, Sakura-chan..." Eichi said.
Sarada looked at the pair feeling a little weirded out by the way they spoke so extra polite and friendly with each other. Mama had gone so far as to invite the man over for dinner... in a way, it frustrated Sarada that she would bring him over without even asking her opinion on the matter... especially since papa was not around too...
"Great I'll get started on dinner." Sakura said taking the bags from Eichi and heading towards the kitchen. Sarada didn't like the way their hands touched when mama grabbed the grocery bags.
"I'll help you I'm an excellent cook!" Eichi said removing his coat and hanging it up on the hanger next to mamas.
"Arigato Eichi-kun"
Sarada was slightly angered as she had been waiting for Sakura to come home so that they could cook dinner together, just the two of them and this "Eichi-kun" was not apart of the plan.
Sarada walked into the kitchen as to prepare to help anyway since there was nothing else to do and she had been bored out of her wits all day.
"Sarada, don't worry about helping me tonight, Eichi is here. Arigato. You go find something else to do." Sakura said to her daughter as if she was in the way.
Sarada feeling even more annoyed now since she had been trying to find something to do for practically the past six days reluctantly sat in the living room watching her mamas interactions with the mystery man and with every moment that passed, she began to think that maybe her friend Cho Cho was right... and she hated that.
It had been almost an hour since mama and Eichi had begun cooking dinner and Sarada hardly noticed the time go by as she spent it analysing every action the pair shared together. So far there was nothing too out of the ordinary or suspicious to report, however, she did notice how much they laughed together as they spoke. Sarada was too far away to hear exactly what they were saying though.
She wondered what Eichi could possibly be saying to make mama laugh so much... she wondered if it would make her laugh too...
"Dinner is ready." Sakura called out to her daughter.
Sarada sat at the table opposite mama and Eichi who continued on engaging in conversation and laughing every now and then.
Sarada started to feel a little sad by this as neither were bothering to include her in the conversation and only spoke about work stuff. She pecked at her food not feeling hungry anymore.
"You're not eating Sarada?" Sakura asked.
Sarada sat in silence not responding. Sakura picked up on this and gave her daughter a curious look.
"How was spending time with Cho Cho? Did you girls do anything exciting today?" Sakura asked attempting to speak to her daughter again. Sarada didn't reply.
Sakura immediately knew something was wrong. Her daughter only resulted to the silent treatment when something heavy was on her mind. Choosing to address it later and rather not get into it in front of a guest, Sakura continued to converse with Eichi instead who also had noticed Sarada's silence.
After dinner she went back to quietly sit in the living room while mama and Eichi did the dishes.
"Here we are," Eichi said pulling out a bottle of wine from the grocery bag once all the dishes had been finished.
"I think I have forgotten what wine tastes like..." Sakura said eagerly grabbing two wine glasses.
Seeing her mother about to share a drink with this man made Sarada worry.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Sarada interrupted. Sakura gave her a stern look.
"Sarada it's not your place to tell adults how to act around alcohol." Sakura said. Sarada choked on her saliva. Her mother hadn't used the "strict tone" with her in a long time now.
Sarada frowned watching the pair drink and laugh together some more and slowly watched it turn sloppy and disoriented as wine usually had that effect on adults, particularly her mother who didn't drink often.
It was just about 11:00pm when Eichi at last left. Before he let himself out, he gave a drunken Sakura a hug making Sarada's blood go hot.
That's papas job. Sarada thought.
"Arigato, Sakura-chan. This was fun, let's do it again some time?" Eichi said. Sakura gave him a half-drunken smile.
"Of course! Any time." She said back to him.
"Goodbye Sarada," Eichi said to her, surprised to see that she was still there as he walked towards the front door. Sarada did not reply and watched him as he left. She noticed he took a glance at the family portrait before he put on his shoes and coat and finally was gone.
As soon as the door closed Sarada got to her feet and marched right up to her blushing mother. Whether it was the alcohol effect or Eichi-kun effect, Sarada could not tell. Either way she was furious with her mother.
"Is Eichi your boyfriend!?" Sarada asked slamming a fist down onto the table causing Sakura to jump.
"Ugh... what?" Sakura asked looking at her daughter oddly.
"What about papa?" Sarada said almost yelling and again slamming a fist onto the table.
"Sarada, your papa and I are husband and wife. Eichi is just a friend." Sakura said sipping at a cup of water.
"You seem like more than just "friends" to me"
"What's gotten into you Sarada?" Sakura asked her finding it out of the ordinary for her sweet daughter to suddenly turn into a lippy brat.
"Some women act this way with their colleagues when they're feeling lonely" Sarada said mimicking what Cho Cho had told her.
At that Sakura choked on her water. Where did her kid daughter hear that?
"Excuse me?" Sakura said turning around hotly to glare at Sarada. What exactly was her daughter inferring?
Sarada shuddered as her mother stared daggers at her thinking maybe she had gone too far... for papa she pushed on.
"You are acting like a child mama! This is why papa won't come home!" Sarada said slamming her small fist on the table, tears filling her eyes. "This is why he doesn't want you! This is why he is with another woman! Just admit it and tell me the truth!" Sarada yelled.
Sakura shocked from all the harsh, foul and incredibly false words that were coming out of her own daughters mouth grabbed hold of Sarada's fist before she could slam it onto the table again and slammed her own fist so hard on the table it broke and collapsed to the floor.
Sarada got a fright from her mother's violent outburst and jumped back away from her.
"Don't ever speak to me like that again." Sakura said firmly still holding her wrist tightly. "Understood?"
Sarada feeling the tears streaming down her cheeks backed away shamefully into the shadows.
"H-hai..." she said quietly. Sakura let go of her wrist and Sarada ran to her bedroom.
Sarada cried hugging her pillow. She had pushed her mother too far and now knew she shouldn't have let her emotions get to her and cause her to act so rudely.
Sarada hugged her pillow tightly trying to calm herself down. She could hear her mother cleaning up in the other room. She felt awful for being the cause of mamas anger, she worried that forgiveness would not come easy this time around.
Maybe she should just trust her mama and stop making assumptions and jumping to conclusions like Cho Cho. It hurt in the pit of her gut to know that she had hurt mamas feelings... but it also hurt to be aware of how friendly she was with another man...
"Papa... where are you?" Sarada sobbed quietly.
Then! Just like that an idea lit up in her mind.
Sakura frowned as she cleaned up the destruction she had caused. Her blood was still boiling though she had become a bit calmer. She had been so short with Sarada and now they were in bad terms.
Sakura knew she shouldn't have acted so heated towards Sarada and should've tried to be a bit more understanding from her viewpoint of things. She only missed her father and there was absolutely nothing wrong with that... but for her to just say and accuse all of those terrible things was extremely unlike Sarada.
Sakura now felt extremely guilty and she would make things right. Right now she longed for one person to make everything better and that was Sasuke.
She tried to hide it in front of Sarada but the truth was, she missed him every second of every day and often cried about it.
Sakura would never believe that he would ever betray her, of course the thought crossing her mind every once in a while... but hearing it come from their daughter now, caused her great pain.
Sarada wasn't a baby anymore. She understood things now and her being incredibly bright meant it was only natural for her to want answers. Sakura decided she would explain in more depth about her fathers absence tomorrow. She clearly was in need of it.
After cleaning up, Sakura opened Sarada's bedroom door slightly and peeked inside. Sarada was asleep cuddling a tear stained pillow making Sakura's heart feel heavy. She hated being the cause of her daughters tears.
"Gomen, Sarada." Sakura said before closing her door and turning off the light.
Sakura went to her own bedroom and shut the door and for a moment just laid on the bed staring up at the ceiling.
'Sasuke-kun...' she thought.
Sakura switched the house lights off and went to sleep with a heavy conscience.
Sarada sat up after pretending to have been asleep after she heard her mother shut her bedroom door.
She quietly crept out of bed and went to grab her pouch of ninja tools. Sarada gently pushed open her door trying to be as quiet as a shadow using all the techniques she had learned in the academy. She crept to the kitchen and packed a few snacks and then grabbed the family portrait. She then put on her shoes and gently opened the front door quietly slipping out of it into the darkness.
She inhaled a deep breath as she looked into the dark streets of Konoha shoving her fear to the side.
'This will make everything better so be brave.' She thought to herself.
If papa wasn't going to return anytime soon, then she would set out to find him.
