Sarada lets herself wake incrementally. First, she turns beneath her covers, savoring the warmth she will soon have to give up. Keeping her eyes closed, she takes note of her body. Most of its previous soreness is gone. There's just the occasional twinge as she flexes her muscles.
It sort of reminds her of the feeling she gets the day after an intense workout. Breathing in deeply, Sarada holds it in her lungs for a beat. Then, slowly, she releases it in a low, quiet exhale. Okay. It is time for her to open her eyes.
She opens her eyes.
"Oh my gosh, aren't you cute?"
Choking back a scream, Sarada scrabbles out from under her covers and across the room. From the safety of the opposite wall, she finds herself staring at a teenage girl. She's got a round face, waist-length red hair, and wears a hitai-ate. She is a kunoichi like Sarada. Her expression is one of battling between sheepishness and amusement. Sarada wishes she'd thought to put one of her kunai or shuriken beneath her pillow last night.
Chances are she's not going to hurt her but one never knows.
The door to the room opens. "Sara—" starts Naruto only to go abruptly mute at the sight of her and the kunoichi. He sighs and frowns.
"Who let you in?" Naruto asks the teenager.
The girl grins at him. "Hiro," she answers. "He also told me what room you're staying in." The kunoichi's smile turns into a pout and she says, tone accusing, "You didn't mention you had a kid."
"She's not my kid," Naruto replies as he comes into the room and closes the door. "Saraka is the daughter of my friends," he tells the girl. He then gestures over at Sarada. "It's okay, Saraka. This is just Kushina."
Sarada's eyes flick from Naruto to the girl — Kushina. There is a strong resemblance between them. It is even greater than between Naruto and Minato. Slowly, she unfurls from her crouch and goes back to her bed. "Uzumaki?" she asks just to be sure.
"Yup!" chirps the teenager.
Sarada nods and goes to settle herself at Naruto's side as he plops himself down on the floor by their futons. "What's she doing here?" she asks the blond.
Naruto raises an eyebrow at the teenager. "Good question," he says.
Kushina pulls a face at them and their disapproval. "Wow," she grumbles. "You're no fun. I thought my kid would have a good sense of humor."
Naruto shifts uneasily. "Please don't say stuff like that," he begs. "You're practically young enough to be my daughter."
The teenager breaks into snickers. "I am, aren't I?" she says with a wide grin.
Sarada, who's deeply confused and more than a little annoyed at this point, grabs Naruto's arm and tugs. "Why does she know who you are?" she demands. "I thought we're trying to lay low?"
"We are," Naruto assures, hand patting her knee. "Remember how I left last night?" he asks.
She scrunches her nose. "Uh, yeah?" she says in a tone she knows her mom would scold her for. "It's not like I was asleep when you went."
The blond rolls his eyes. "You also weren't asleep when I came back," he points out.
Sarada looks away. She hadn't done that on purpose. So she isn't going to say sorry. "Whatever," she huffs. "So why does Kushina know who you are?"
"She's got Kurama," Naruto explains.
Sarada blinks. "What?" she asks, not quite sure she understands. Does Naruto mean she has his nine-tailed fox or the fox in general?
Kushina puts a hand over her stomach. "I felt pretty weird yesterday afternoon," she explains. "I thought something was going on with the seal, y'know?"
"Um," mumbles Sarada, now staring wide-eyed at the teenager.
Kushina gestures at Naruto. "Me and the people dealing with the demon thought we were gonna have to take some drastic measures last night when the sandaime shows up with your—"
"—teacher. Our cover story is she's my apprentice," Naruto cuts in before Kushina can do something like call Naruto her uncle or, worse, her dad.
The teenager nods. "Teacher," she echoes. "He shows up with your teacher. We find out he's from the future and, in his time, is the jinchuriki. Then he says he doesn't have the fox anymore, which, whoa. Jinchuriki usually die if they get separated from their parasite—"
"—They do?" breaks in, Sarada, alarmed.
"Kushina," Naruto scolds, making the teenager flinch back and hunker her chin into her chest while Naruto brings Sarada in for a hug. She ends up clutching at the back of his jacket as she presses her ear to his heart.
It sounds fine.
"I'm okay, see?" he assures her when she lifts her head. "It's gonna take a lot more than a little time travel to do me in," he jokes.
Sarada lets go of Naruto but stays pressed into his side. She's barely been awake fifteen minutes and she is already exhausted thanks to the two panics Kushina's given her. Naruto settles his hand on her shoulder, thumb making small circles in it.
Kushina furrows her brows with suspicion but does not comment on their behavior. Naruto is not her dad. Naruto is a dad though. He's familiar with comforting kids.
"Sorry," she says. "I wasn't trying to freak you out," she explains. "I was just telling the story, y'know?"
Sarada dips her chin in understanding but doesn't forgive Kushina. The teenager, who has to be at least eighteen, should be better with her words than she is. Sarada's only twelve and has a pretty good handle on tact (even if she doesn't always use it).
Kushina sighs. "Anyway," she continues. "We talked and stuff and figured out when you guys time-traveled the nine-tailed fox merged with his past self and is with me." Kushina pouts. "It's super weird."
Naruto chuckles. "It's better than there being two Kuramas, no?" he asks.
The teenager rolls her eyes. "I guess you're right," she agrees. "Anyway, it was after that it kinda dawned on me Naruto's my kid. There's not a lotta Uzumakis in Konoha and he looks oddly familiar."
"Like looking in a mirror?" Sarada suggests.
Kushina opens and closes her mouth. "No," she mumbles. "He looks like my boyfriend."
Sarada scrunches her nose. "Sorta," she replies. "But between you two, he takes after you more."
The teenager scratches her chin. "Huh," she says. "Well, that's nice of you to say."
She smiles. "You're welcome."
Kushina's lips quirk. "Oh, you're a sweetheart," she declares. Sarada blushes, pleased to have the older kunoichi's approval. To Naruto, Kushina says, "I like her."
Naruto grins. "That's good news," he teases. "We're going to be working together a lot for a while."
Sarada perks up. "She's helping us?"
Naruto smirks. "More heads are always better, y'know?" he says.
"Yeah!" she replies, excited.
The blond laughs and pats her head. "Why don't you go get cleaned up?" he suggests. "Biwako has breakfast waiting for us in the kitchen."
Sarada's mouth waters at the word 'breakfast'. While she hadn't been hungry last night, she is about ready to die of hunger this morning. "Great!" she exclaims. Pushing herself to her feet, she hurries for the door. Before she leaves, however, a thought comes to her.
"Kushina," she calls.
"Yeah?"
"You never said, what are you doing here this morning?" Sarada asks.
The teenager beams. "I've been assigned to show you to your temporary apartment and to help you move in!"
Sarada gasps. "Oh my gosh!"
Kushina laughs. "Yeah, it's pretty cool, huh?" she says. "We're going to spend pretty much the whole day together."
"I can't wait."
-O-
By mid-afternoon, Sarada, Naruto, and Kushina have finished shopping for things they'll need for the next week or so and moved on to cleaning up the apartment they'll be staying in. While she and Kushina are in the kitchen, cleaning the cupboards and loading them with foodstuff and dishes, a commotion begins in the next room.
"Hi," pipes a little voice Sarada recognizes almost instantly.
That's gramps.
"Shit!" swears Naruto as something clatters to the floor. Sarada suspects it's the mop he'd been using. Hopefully, the blond also didn't knock over his bucket of soapy water.
Sarada puts down the rag she'd been using to clean the dusty corners of the cupboard beneath the kitchen sink and rises to her feet. Kushina is already in the doorway of the kitchen, back to her, with one hand wrapped around the frame. "Hey," she calls out, tone sharp. "What are you doing here?"
Padding over, Sarada stops just behind Kushina and peers around her arm to see Kakashi and Naruto together in the middle of the room. Thankfully, the bucket is still upright even if Naruto's mop lies to his right. Kakashi looks over at them, or, rather, at Kushina. His gray eyes are unimpressed as he grinds out, "Hello, Kushina."
Kushina shifts, hand finding her hip. "Whoa, a 'hello' for me today?" she half-jeers, half-jokes. "That's unusual. Minato been on your case about manners again?" she asks as she steps into the next room. Her head swivels side-to-side like she's looking for something (or, maybe, someone). "Where is he, by the way?" she asks.
The boy shrugs. "Dunno," he answers. "Ditched him." Gramps then makes a grabby motion for the mop. "Need help?" he asks Naruto.
"Uh, sure?" replies the blond as the boy reaches around him to pick up the mop.
"Ditched him?" repeats Kushina, voice pitched high. Kakashi ignores her in favor of dunking the mop in the water. Kushina stops in the room and looms over the kid as he picks up where Naruto left off. "Kakashi, I'm talking to you!" she snaps.
Kakashi barely spares her a glance. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"No, no," chides Kushina as she makes a grab for his arm which he dodges. "C'mere!" the teenager makes a second, more successful snag for the boy. A hand fists in the back of Gramp's shirt, and she forces him to face her as she demands, "What do you mean you ditched him?"
Naruto starts, hands up in a placating manner. "Kushina—"
"Do you have mud in your ears or something?" the boy demands, eyes narrowed.
Sarada gasps. She's never heard Gramps be so rude to someone before. And this is Naruto's mom.
"You little brat," Kushina hisses as she starts to lift the kid off his feet.
"H-Hey!" stutters Naruto, separating the little boy and teenager. "Let's not fight." Gaze fluttering between the two, Naruto suggests, "Why don't you let me try talking to him, yeah?"
Kushina flicks her ponytail, which had fallen forward over her shoulder as they cleaned the apartment Sarada and Naruto are going to live in, behind her. "Good luck," she says, jeering at Kakashi.
She reaches for Sarada's wrist. "C'mon," she urges. "I was about to take out some trash anyway."
"Uh, sure," agrees Sarada even though she'd really prefer to stick around and find out what's gotten into Kakashi.
Kushina picks up a box of trash and, as they head out the door, Sarada hears Naruto hiss, "What the Hell, Kakashi?"
They are already too far away for her to hear Kakashi's answer. Even so, Sarada doesn't let herself be discouraged. She eyes Kushina's back appraisingly. The kunoichi seems very familiar with Kakashi (which is unsurprising, she supposes. Gramps's teacher is Kushina's boyfriend).
"Is he always like that?" she ends up asking as Kushina throws the trash into the bin that lays in the alleyway beside the apartment building that will be her and Naruto's temporary home.
Dusting off her hands, Kushina turns, blue eyes wide. "Kakashi?"
Sarada nods.
The teenager purses her lips. "Pretty regularly," she admits. "Kid's got problems."
Sarada can't help but startle at those words. "O-Oh?"
Kushina eyes her. "Bet you know him later, huh?" she says. Then she shrugs. "Or of him, I guess." She grins conspiratorially at Sarada and leans in. "What's he like in the future?"
Sarada fidgets, unsure if she should say anything let alone what. At last, she says, "He's well-respected by many. Admired."
Kushina makes a face. "Weird," she says.
"Is it?" replies Sarada with a raised brow. Kakashi is currently younger than her but is on a Genin team already. It must means he's quite advanced. "He's already a strong shinobi, isn't he?"
The teenager sighs. "Yeah," she admits, grudging. "He knows it too."
Sarada thinks she's starting to understand a bit. Gramps, as a little boy, had been a prodigy and highly aware of it. That knowledge must have made him snobby. She wonders when he outgrew it. Soon, she hopes.
She suspects right now he's acting bratty to not tip off Kushina he's also a time traveler. Sarada doesn't know what they're going to do if he can't taper it off soon. This is all going to be so much more stressful if they have to listen to the two of them bicker every time they're together.
"Well, maybe that won't matter?" offers Sarada. "He already likes us."
The teenager spins around and grabs her around the shoulders. "He likes you?" Kushina cries as Sarada squirms.
"Um, yes?"
Kushina lets her go to press her hands to the side of her head and cry, "Oh man!" Face flushed and eyes shining, she asks, "Is it 'cause Naruto kinda looks like Minato?"
Sarada looks around uneasily. "You should really call him Menma out in public, Kushina."
The teenager winces. "Yeah, that's fair," she agrees. "So?" she prods, finger jabbing into Sarada's shoulder.
She huffs and slaps it. "Don't!" she complains. "And I'm not sure, maybe?"
"I bet that's why," says Kushina, unbothered by the fact Sarada hit her. "'Kashi likes next to no one else."
"Really?"
Kushina bobs her head. "Oh yeah," she says. "Even then it wasn't instantaneous, you know. 'Kashi took practically a year to decide he liked and respected Minato."
Sarada bites the inside of her cheek. "That's—"
The teenager cuts her off with a snigger. "Oh, Minato's going to be so jealous!"
"I don't think jealous is how I'd describe the way he feels about us," Sarada blurts.
"What?" says the other kunoichi, her laughter abruptly dying off. "You met him already?"
She wrings her hands. "I bet he'll tell you about it later," she says. Sarada's never had a boyfriend or girlfriend but she does know it's pretty common for couples to share stuff. One's student going missing in the middle of training seems like the kind of thing somebody would mention to their partner when asked about their day. "Gr— Kakashi was sort of… just there… when we arrived in the past," she explains. "Minato was panicked when he found us all together. I think he's suspicious of us now; even though the third told him the cover story and assured him of our trustworthiness."
Kushina flaps a hand. "Eh," she replies, flippant. "He'll realize you're okay soon enough. My boyfriend isn't the type to hold grudges, you know."
"I hope you're right," Sarada mutters. She can't help but think Kushina's going to be wrong. Minato didn't relax around them for a second yesterday.
"Trust me!" cries the teenager, offering a grin that wouldn't look out of place on Naruto's face.
Sarada can't help but be warmed by it. This smile, when worn by Naruto, has always made her feel safe. "I'll try," she promises.
"Good!" exclaims Kushina. She snags Sarada's elbow. "Now, let's go back. Maybe your teacher's managed where no one else has and wrangled 'Kashi into a more polite state."
Thank you all very much for reading and let me know what you think!