Chapter Text
1. big sister
His daughter is perched on Kakashi's lap, pressing wet baby kisses on her favorite uncle's cheek. Knowing he gets especially jealous when it comes to Sarada's affection, Kakashi winks at him over her head. Sasuke rolls his eyes and looks away, refusing to respond to the ribbing.
The pair is silent for a moment, and then Sarada giggles, catching Sasuke's attention once again. Now, she has her arms wrapped around Kakashi's neck, whispering in his ear. Sasuke raises a brow at his former teacher.
"Sarada-chan, would you like to tell your Papa what you just said?"
"Es!" she crows, enthusiastic.
"So, Sarada-chan,” Kakashi begins, eyes crinkling at the corners as he looks at her. He briefly meets Sasuke's gaze before he continues. “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
"Big sih-ter!" she declares, without missing a beat. She beams upon the two men with a megawatt smile. “I wan’ be big sih-ter ‘en I gow up!”
Upon hearing that, Sasuke nearly chokes on his spit. Kakashi is also grinning at him now, his giddiness palpable. I can’t do this right now, Sasuke thinks. He swiftly rises from his seat and crosses the room in a few strides. He clears his throat and calls, “Sarada.”
His little girl looks at him attentively, seemingly forgetting Kakashi already. Point for me. Take that, sensei. “We have to go home. Mama’s waiting.”
“Es, Papa!” she agrees, holding her arms out to him. He scoops her up, side-eyeing Kakashi all the while. He unceremoniously turns to leave, and is halfway to the door when Kakashi speaks again. “Off to fulfill Sarada-chan's wish, hm, Sasuke?” he almost croons. “What a dutiful father you are.”
Sasuke turns to regard him, his eyes narrowed into slits. Sharingan-red blazes at Kakashi for a split-second, before Sasuke turns away again, with a curt “Goodbye, Kakashi.”
Kakashi’s full-bellied laughter echoes through the hallway after they leave. “Ah,” he sighs to himself, as his gaze rests on the picture of Team 7 which had pride of place on his desk. He smiles. “How far they’ve all come.”
2. letting it out
At the moment Sarada is sitting at the table with her long-absent father, and she does not know what to do. There has to be something, anything; shannaro! It seems wrong to just be sitting there reading her novel when he is right across from her. Now could be the time for answers, for their long-needed heart-to-heart. But how to get him to talk?
He beats her to it before she could even try anything, however. Out of the blue there sounds the loudest, most obnoxious sounding fart she has ever heard.
“P-papa…?”
He only raises an eyebrow at her over the newspaper he's been reading. So she has to ask the unimaginable: “Did you just fart?”
“No.”
“But you did!”
“Maybe that was you.”
“It wasn't!”
They have an intense stare-off; it's a wonder that no one has actually activated the Sharingan. Unbelievable, Sarada thinks, as she struggles to hold her own against his unwavering gaze. Is this Uchiha Sasuke, legendary shinobi, Shadow Hokage of the Leaf?
But then, that doesn't make him any less human, does it, she realizes. He is not immune to passing gas, and all of the other discomforts and indignities that come with this existence. And surely there are a myriad other ordinary things to learn about this man—and she had missed knowing all those because of their long separation. And in the same vein, that would also be true of her—how many quirks and habits has she picked up that he does not know?
It dawns on her: It would be nice, if we could learn each other starting now. Embarrassments and all.
At this revelation, a giggle bubbles out from her mouth, which surprises them both. She stands up and packs away her book, intending to go back to her room to continue musing in solitude. “You're so annoying, Papa,” she tells him, smirking. At that, he looks floored, which sparks her curiosity. But she leaves it for another time. “You do you, though” she calls, as she walks away. “I’m glad to be meeting you, like this.”
3. the future is bright
To his endless amusement, Sarada seems to have [also] taken a shine to her mother’s butt. For the third time this evening, Sasuke witnesses his daughter lightly hip check his wife, giggling all the while.
“Do you have anything to say about my butt, daughter?” Sakura huffs, trying and failing to keep the laughter out of her voice.
“Nothing, mama, I just love it.”
“Oh?” Sakura raises an eyebrow. “Why is that?”
“I’m just looking at my future, ma.” Sarada winks at him, then grins at her mother. “And it’s looking big, and bright.”