notes: typos fixed! (5/24/19)
rating: K
disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I own the following Disney stories I mentioned here.
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19. fairy tale
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"Tch," comes a scoff from Sarada, adjusting her glasses back in place before her eyes narrow in frustration. "Why do people even like fairy tales? They're so illogical and they bend reality." Sometimes Sakura read her a few when she'd been younger—Sarada could not grasp it; she's too practical and preferred things simple. Why couldn't Cinderella's prince just tell the duke what she looked like so it could narrow their search by hundreds of girls? Didn't Snow White know to not accept food from strangers? Didn't any of them think?
"Maybe that's why they're called fairy tales, as in: not real, Sarada," Boruto pipes in, nonchalant, as he indulges in his lollipop. Mitsuki smiles quietly—typical behavior of him—absorbing the conversation in great detail.
"I still say it's ridiculous," she heckles further, pushing up her glasses back in place as her eyes narrows at the words 'and they lived happily ever after.' She has half a mind to toss the book aside, but if she did, Himawari would cry (it is her book, Hinata's kept it around since the girls' early childhood and Himawari loved it ever since) and Sarada never liked it when she cried. If she had known today would result in a salty rant of non-existent things, she would've gladly refused the offering of the book when Himawari suggested light reading to spend this lovely Saturday afternoon. Lovely can't be used to describe it anymore.
"Please, indulge me with your thoughts about this apparent issue troubling you, Sarada." Curiously, Mitsuki smiles and smiles at her, awaiting to hear an explanation that he can ponder about later. Never hearing fairy tales, not once as a past time or once just for fun, it'd been a new branch of topic for him to perch on. He'd believed it was merely trivial, old stories or maybe legends, but if his teammate had such strong opinions about it, he'd like to hear them to further open his perspective concerning it.
"How does Sleeping Beauty wake up from a 'true love's kiss' just like that? How does one even know if that it really is a true love's kiss?" She's missing something, right? No, she's definitely sure; there's got to be some explanation for it, some kind of magic, perhaps. If people believed in it, then maybe it could be justified—
"Sarada," Boruto injects from his seat next to her, drawling. "Maybe the author was high when they wrote it?" Once again, Sarada thinks, this boy has and will never have any sort of tact at all and that will be his undoing.
Himawari groans at her sibling's choice of words and sentences before punching his arm. "Maybe it's just destiny? I mean, have you ever had that feeling where it just feels so right, yet you can't explain how it does?"
Sarada's eyes travels to Himawari. "I still don't see how kissing with a stranger you've danced with only once in the forest can lead to finding your 'true love.' Especially when you've been sleeping from a curse an enchantress had placed upon you from anger that stemmed from her not being invited to the gala celebrating the princess' birth."
One blink, two blinks—Himawari looks frazzled, confused, incredulous, all the synonyms. Boruto joins his sister in blinking, popping that lemon lollipop of his occasionally.
"Let's just say this: it's only a fairy tale, Sarada," Boruto eventually succumbs to proper speech and all, a sign of the apocalypse nearing maybe. "It's not real; it's not meant to be. Therefore, the author is free to bend reality within their story however they want."
Sarada feels her nose scrunch in trifling distaste, "Fine, but I still can't grasp why every fairy tale needs to end with a happy ending. Why can't we have a tragic ending for once? I think it'd really spice up the story." Not everything ends happily with sunflowers and rainbows and birds chirping and weddings and— That's not how it is to be human and have feelings. No one can expect everything to be happy.
Boruto snickers at the long sigh Himawari lets out. The girl will probably tear her hair out by the end of today, before suppertime, and Hinata would scream her lungs silly at a bald daughter and Naruto would agonize for the next decade or so. Boruto would like to see that and jokingly roots for Sarada to keep it up.
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"I'll admit," Boruto hears Sarada say to his sister, "I prefer the story of Beauty and the Beast the most." He prevents himself from making a face at her across the table. He forgot they were in a library; the old-lady librarian would have his head for making ruckuses.
"Yeah!" Himawari approves, exultant. "I love the theme it has! It's not about what's on the outside, it's about what's on the inside. I just love watching how Belle and Beast's relationship improved overtime, it's so cuuuute!"
Boruto has a hard time believing it—twenty minutes ago, Sarada had been driven (by salt and sourness) to argue about fairy tales and now, she's laughing with Himawari over Beauty and the Beast. This fairy tale deserves an obligatory salute, and he's eternally grateful none of it involved him because he'd be damned if it did.
"Onii-chan, you saw the movie with me, right? Who's your favorite character?"
Ah, crud.
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It's unlike Sasuke to hide on most days—he'd lurk in shadows, but that's for his missions and he certainly isn't on any mission right now.
He'd come to collect Sarada, sent by Sakura, and he had a hunch she merely wanted him to spend more time with their daughter as evident of her twinkling eyes and upward smile he knew he could never refused. Sarada seemed to be deep in conversation with her friends; Sasuke opted to wait until she was done and it didn't seem like she'd be finished anytime soon. The sun is out, yet to have fallen below horizon and signal the sky to turn orange like the orange of Naruto's rugged old suit years ago. He'd let her have her time and then he'd come for an appearance. The library would close soon anyways.
"I like Cogsworth. He's always keeping it real whenever he comes up." Sasuke never understood Boruto's lingo, never had once.
Himawari is next to speak. "Really? I like Mrs. Potts! She reminds me of Mama—super nice and caring!"
He's silent behind the bookcase, listening and listening. He personally didn't have any favorites; to be frank, fairy tales weren't his thing, and he never really indulged in it. Maybe Sakura had favorites instead.
"What about you Sarada?"
"Hm..." Sasuke hears her says, almost mumbling to herself. "Maybe Belle. Like you, she reminds me of my Mama. They're both smart." He could agree with her, easily. "And I guess also because I can see my Papa in Beast. They're both unapproachable at first, but when time passes, it's likely the opposite. Belle and Beast remind me of both my parents," Sarada says in a concluding note, and Sasuke felt something strange in his chest. It had some semblance to the feeling he had whenever his brother complimented him back then, or whenever Mikoto smiled at him and Fugaku went to praise him.
Some time passed—Sasuke found some entertainment in idly hearing Boruto go on about Cogsworth and then shifts to remarking about the funny scenes he could remember from the movie before the boy was pelted by Himawari's eraser and he asks Mitsuki to cover for him as he ducks underneath the table. When the librarian stomps her heels over, drags him out by the ear, ruler in hand, Sasuke decides this is the perfect time to step out.
"Sarada."
He sees bits of Sakura in her eyes. "Papa? Why are you here?"
"Sakura's starting on dinner."
She's quick to react and tells her two remaining friends a goodbye before she tucks her notebooks underneath her arm, thanks Himawari for her fairy tale book, and trudges after him out the building. Sasuke notices how taken aback she looks. "I didn't know I was in there for so long. Good thing you came by, Papa."
He'd been there for a while, actually. "Ah, it's nothing. You know how your mother wants us back in time for supper." He sounds dull, typical Sasuke behavior, leaving no hint that he'd been listening to her conversation prior.
"Better not keep her waiting then!"
