Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at /works/45301702.
Additional Tags:
Canon Compliant, Fluff and Humor, Domestic Fluff, Introspection, POV Uchiha Sarada, Sarada has a lot of questions, mentions of other canon pairings, Mentions of other characters, Established Relationship, Married Life
A Peculiar Relationship
by ArfisraR
Mama and Papa have a very peculiar relationship, Sarada thinks.
She watches the way her Papa keeps his mismatched eyes on her Mama, his eyes always trailing after Mama as she flits here and there in their living room, fixing this and dusting that. Trying to make the house look more presentable for her husband, Sarada thinks with an internal scoff. Papa doesn't care for that.
"Oh the flowers have wilted! I forgot to buy new ones from Ino..." Mama trails off, taking the dry stems out and placing the vase back on the kitchen counter rack. Sarada feels her Papa shift in his seat next to her on the sofa, and offers him a slice of the oranges she's snacking on. Papa gently refuses with a wave of his hand because he doesn't like sweets, of course.
Maybe if Mama stopped moving around so much and just sat next to Papa... but no, Mama won't sit next to Papa, not yet at least. Even in the privacy of their home her parents maintain a respectful distance between them, particularly in front of her. Sarada remembers Mama's lengthy discourse on the topic of the traditional and old-fashioned upbringing of the noble clans of Konoha, notably the Uchiha and the Hyuuga, and the importance of practising decorum and propriety at all times.
(Maybe it's another one of her father's ways of clinging to his past a little longer, adopting the mannerisms of a long-dead family, an attempt to honour their memories. And her mother with her too big heart full of too much love for her husband has simply adapted and adjusted herself to suit his needs. She certainly didn't learn it from her own family. Grandpa and Grandma Haruno thrive on public displays of affection... and aggression.)
The sofa shifts again as Papa finally gets up and makes his way towards the open plan kitchen (towards Mama), probably to get a snack for himself. Mama catches Papa's eyes and grabs a tomato from the produce basket and starts slicing them. Sarada plucks another slice of orange into her mouth as she observes her parents and considers the peculiarities of their relationship for the umpteenth time.
There are no overt displays of affection in the Uchiha household. For all the looking and staring that he does, Papa still maintains a reserved and conservative persona most of the times he's at home and rarely initiates physical contact, and Mama is used to that. There are no good-bye kisses or welcome home hugs between them. At least not while Sarada is around.
"You have no idea how lucky you are, Sarada! The kind of stuff I've walked into? I wish I could use my mom's jutsu to wipe my memory clean! The trauma that I live with on a daily basis..."
"Ughh Inojin, cut the dramatics please, I'm sure they were just flirting. Meanwhile my parents are just sooo laaaame and booorinng... it's always just Choji-cakes this and Honey-buns that...there's no action! No high-stakes romance!!"
Mama and Papa are talking quietly in the kitchen, discussing dinner options. Sarada lets her thoughts drift to another conversation she had with her mother a while back, when they had both returned home together after seeing Papa off at the village gates.
"Papa never kisses you good-bye when he leaves for his missions." Sarada had stated matter-of-factly. Mama had smiled at that and said good-naturedly, "your Papa is plenty affectionate with me when it's just me and him. I don't mind."
Obviously Sarada knew all about that. She was a certified Chunin who knew how to kill someone in a billion different ways, of course she knew all about the birds and the bees. She could tell when her parents had been... to borrow Chou-Chou's term, 'frisky' with each other.
But that wasn't her real concern.
"But then how do you know that he really loves you?"
Mama had answered patiently. "Hugs and kisses are not the only way of showing love and affection. Your father has his own ways of showing how much he loves us and cares for us". Mama had tapped her forehead then to make her point. But Sarada still wasn't satisfied with that. Mama had pressed on:
"Sarada, you possess one of the most powerful eyes known to ever exist, and you're also the smartest kid I know. (Yes, even smarter than Shikadai, don't give me that look!) I'm sure if you look closely enough you'll figure it out!" And with those vague words of wisdom her Mama had left her, to stew in her own thoughts.
(Do Mama and Papa really love each other? Papa was gone for so long, Mama was by herself for such a long time, and there's so much about their history that I still don't know...)
The sound of rolling glass brings Sarada back to the present. Mama has somehow tripped over the threshold separating the kitchen from the living area, and sent the vase rolling over the edge of the counter-top.
In an instant Papa is next to Mama, holding her by the waist with his right arm, as a purple Susano arm catches the vase before it crashes. Papa lets out an amused huff as he sets Mama back down, places the vase back on the counter, and moves back inside the kitchen space.
(Papa is such a show-off.)
Mama gives Sarada a sheepish look and hurries after Papa.
Mama always seems to get extra clumsy when Papa is around. Maybe that's why Papa always keeps his eyes on her at all times, Sarada muses. And Papa always holds Mama so gently, like she's made of glass. (Like he's scared she might break if he holds too tightly.)
A shinobi must always look underneath the underneath.
When Sarada finally looks at her parents with her eyes free of judgement and comparison, without preconceived notions of how a married couple should and shouldn't act, she is able to see all the ways that her Mama and Papa love each other.
She sees the way Mama wears a dress instead of her usual outfit when they go to the village gate to say goodbye to Papa. She sees the way Papa's hand lingers on Mama's as he takes the lovingly made bento from her hand, the way Papa softly pokes Mama's forehead right on her Byakugo seal.
She hears the quiet chuckles that escape her father's mouth as he listens attentively to Mama prattle about the most mundane of things, as Mama brings Papa up to speed on all the village gossip he's missed while away on one of his missions.
She sees how her parents always stay within arm's reach of each other whenever they're together, forever pulled by an unseen force into each other's orbits. She has seen the lingering looks and the tender touches, (and has even seen the loving embraces and ardent kisses when Papa thinks that no one is watching them.)
There is an ease to their relationship, a quiet softness of absolute trust and compatability that is the result of more than two decades of constant companionship. Her parents have fought wars together, both literal and figurative, to get to where they are now. Whatever jagged edges and sharp corners that existed between them previously have all been chiselled and whittled down with love and commitment (and constant devotion and time) until they're both two halves of the same sphere that fit together seamlessly.
Sarada let's out a long breath.
She picks up her empty bowl and moves towards the kitchen. Papa is standing near the counter, peeling and cutting some vegetables for their dinner using his purple hand, while Mama stands near the stove with her back facing them, stirring a ladle in a pot and frying something in another pan. From the looks of things, dinner is going to be a feast of some sorts.
Sarada places the bowl on the counter and Papa moves to take it so he can wash it for her, but pauses midway and shrugs at her. Sarada feels her mother's disapproving glare from across the kitchen and begrudgingly makes her way around the counter and towards the sink, holding her bowl so she can wash it herself.
Maybe Mama and Papa have some sort of mind-link jutsu that allows them to read each other's thoughts without even looking at each other, Sarada grumbles to herself as she rinses the bowl.
She has the sudden urge to be mischievous. There are still some questions and bits of information that have been lingering in her mind, and there's no time like the present to air out all her musings.
She finishes with her washing and places the bowl in the drying rack, wipes her hands on the kitchen towel and turns around to face her parents' unassuming backs, both of them busy in opposite corners of the kitchen.
"Mama? Can I ask you something?" At her mother's approving nod Sarada continues:
"Is it true that Lord Seventh used to have a crush on you when you guys were younger?"
There is no clattering of kitchen utensils or gasps of surprise from her parents; Mama and Papa are elite shinobi of the highest calibre and Sarada doesn't expect any less from them. But Sarada sees the way her father's grip tightens on the cutting knife for just a second, and the way Mama keeps stirring for a moment longer than required, until she finally stops and turns around to face Sarada with a smile that has a touch of annoyance in it.
"That's some ancient piece of gossip. Where did you learn it from?" Mama asks a question of her own. She's not deflecting, just taking some time before she answers, Sarada understands. Mama has promised her that she will try her best to answer all of Sarada's questions and inquiries to the best of her ability (after that whole debacle and misunderstanding that happened with Papa's old team way back when.)
"Aunty Ino told Inojin who told Chou-Chou who told me," Sarada answers truthfully. Papa is still chopping vegetables with his back to them, listening in on their conversation but not taking any part, leaving all the explanations up to Mama.
Typical.
Sarada continues: "And Metal Lee's dad was also one of your long time admirers, Mama. He used to run laps around the village declaring his undying love for you," she pauses here for effect, "Inojin's dad was the one who said that. He also said that you were so popular you used to get love letters from all the patients that you healed, even in the middle of the war!"
Papa is done chopping vegetables, it seems, as he gathers them all in a tray and places them on the kitchen slab next to the stove. In the next instant, he's in the hallway outside the kitchen, making his way towards the entrance portal.
"Sasuke-kun! We're not done with the dinner yet!" Mama calls out from behind the counter.
"I won't take long," Papa promises Mama as he straps on his sandals, and holds Mama's gaze.
"Maybe they kiss each other with their eyessss... maybe it's a Sharingan thing that you just haven't unlocked yet!!"
Chou-Chou's annoying voice rings in Sarada's ears and she tries her hardest to keep her expression as neutral as she can as she observes the silent exchange between her parents.
But her Mama is looking at Papa with an exasperated expression, annoyance clearly visible in the crease of her eye brows, until she finally relents and lets Papa leave with a huff and a mutter of some sorts.
After Mama composes herself and returns to her cooking, Sarada continues with her questions.
"So, is it true then? Was Boruto's dad really in love with you?"
Her Mama replies with a gentle smile, "I don't think Naruto really knew what love meant back then. He was probably in love with the idea of me... maybe because I was in the same team, or maybe because Sasuke-kun was his rival. Whatever his feelings were they didn't last for long."
Sarada takes a moment to process her mother's response. Something about it doesn't sit right with her.
"But you knew that you loved Papa even back then, didn't you?"
This is not a question, Sarada knows that her mother has loved her father even before she knew what love meant, even before she knew what loving someone (like him) like that meant.
Mama is practically glowing when she answers:
"The heart wants what it wants, Sarada, and mine has always been in love with Sasuke-kun. I don't think my heart knows how not to love him," Mama says with a small chuckle at the end.
Before Sarada can asks any more questions, Mama asks a question of her own. "Sarada, is there something you want to tell me?" Mama looks at her with a raised eye-brow and a calculating smile.
It takes her a moment to understand her mother's real meaning but she answers truthfully.
"No Mama, my goal is to become a Hokage as great as Lord Seventh one day, and in order to do that I need to be emotionally intelligent and understand the needs and wants of both hearts and minds of the people I wish to lead someday."
"I don't have time for romance," she adds a little awkwardly at the end of her little speech.
Mama, who has been listening attentively with pride written in her features, let's out a tinkling laugh at that admission.
"You really are your father's daughter, Sarada!" Mama exclaims, barely containing her mirth. "So focused and goal-oriented even at such a young age, with no time for frivolities!" Her mother reaches out and ruffles Sarada's hair affectionately. "All in good time, I suppose," she adds fondly.
They both enjoy several long moments of quiet contemplation as Sarada helps her mother finish off with the rest of the cooking. They are almost done when Mama speaks with a wistful smile:
"You know Sarada, your Papa also knew back then. About his feelings for me." Mama gives her a pointed look as she continues, "he was also very good at lying to himself."
As if summoned by her mother's words, Papa is back in the entry-hallway, toeing off his sandals with a soft utterance of 'Tadaima', ('Okaeri', Mama answers fondly), holding some packages in his single arm.
"Do you feel better now, Sasuke-kun?" Mama asks with a smile that seems too cheerful to Sarada. Papa grunts in her mother's direction, "don't be annoying, Sakura," and places the packages on the kitchen counter.
One of them, the bigger, square shaped take-away box, contains a dessert of some kind, probably for their dinner, Sarada thinks.
The other package is made of rolled-up paper that her father unwraps to reveal flowers, one red and one white, on long stalks. He places them in the empty glass vase on the kitchen counter, and then enters the kitchen to unbox the dessert. As her mother thanks her father for the flowers a look passes between them.
('So that's where Papa went,' Sarada thinks.)
Dinner that evening is scrumptious and wholesome, as Mama fishes for compliments from Papa, while Papa shuffles extra meat into Sarada's plate and finishes all her leftovers.
After the dinner is done and the dishes are put away, her little family retires into the living area for tea and dessert. Papa sits on his spot on the sofa nursing his cup of tea, a soft smile on his lips. Mama sits snuggled next to his side (finally) as she gushes over the store-bought dessert (her favourite) enjoying each and every bite.
I started writing this with a point to make. I hope I was able to properly convey that point.
Sarada's Mama and Papa do not have a typical relationship. They have spent more time apart then together in their decades long companionship. Mama still wears her heart on her sleeve, and Papa still keeps his hidden behind layers.
And yet they still make each other happy.
End Notes:
Some of my thoughts on the Canon depiction of Adult Sasuke and Sakura's relationship in the Boruto manga and anime. Set in the same canon-compliant verse as my last story.
I started writing this with a point to make. I hope I was able to properly convey that point.
Please consider dropping a comment to let me know if you enjoyed this work.