[Naruto AU, angst]

"Good morning."

"Good morning."

Sarada glanced at her two parents as they dryly greeted each other the next morning. She didn't see anything. No sparks, no hugs, no kisses, no signs of love. How blind have I been all my life...?

She slammed her hands down on the table and stood up, "What's going on?!"

"Sarada..." Sasuke stared at her.

"Sarada, calm down." Karin set her hands on Sarada's shoulder, but she only shoved her hands away.

"I don't know what's going on between you two, but something's clearly up! No one will tell me who Sakura Haruno is, and--"

"Don't." Sasuke glared at her, "don't say that name..."

His cold tone immediately shut Sarada up. It scared her to see him like this, but without saying another word, tears escaped her eyes, "P-Papa... Why can't you tell me anything? Who is she?! Why don't you love Mom like any husband would love his wife?!"

"Sarada..." Karin looked at her, then looked at Sasuke.

"It..." Sasuke looked away sadly, "it has nothing to do with you."

"That's not--!" Sarada froze.

"Please don't make things hard on him. He's been through things you couldn't imagine."

The look on Sasuke's face. At the sound of that name, it seemed someone pierced him with a sword. He was so in pain, and if he weren't as stoic as he was, he would be crying. She constrained herself and sighed, "fine. Never mind. I'm going."

Karin reached to grab her, "wait, Sarada!"

Sarada ran out the door before Karin could stop her.

"Let her go... "Sasuke replied quietly as Karin turned back to look at him.

"Sasuke, I'll go talk to--"

"No need." Sasuke cut her off, "I'm heading out."

"Where?"

"I need to talk to someone."

Karin watched as Sasuke left the house and headed in the direction away from the village, the route he normally takes. She smiled and crossed her arms, "of course you need to go talk to her..."

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"Where is he?!" Sarada paced back and forth in the training fields. She waited there with the hopes to run into her Papa when he goes there to train with Boruto.

"Sarada? Is that you?" Boruto called, "what are you doing here?"

"Where's Papa?"

"Hm?" Boruto blinked a few times, "He's not here. He said to take today off because he needed to go talk to someone."

"Of course he did..." Sarada gritted her teeth, "shanaroo, I need to go find him."

Boruto stared at her, "well, see ya."

"That's it?"

"Yeah. I don't really feel inclined to help you out, here. After yesterday." He glared at her before leaving.

What a pain... Sarada glanced around, then recognized the dark hair and dark cloak just past the trees, "what's he doing out there?"

She quickly followed him from a good distance away, making sure to hide every time he glanced back in her direction. Within minutes, she found herself in front of a hidden hideout, a little bit outside the village. She crept through the door and stuck to the wall, finding her way through the dark hallway. Soon, she spotted a door only a crack open, a light streaming through the cracks. She stood just close enough to hear the voice from the room, but when she stopped, she heard nothing. She slowly peeked in and recognized Sasuke's black cloak. The next action she saw shocked her. She hadn't seen it before, not even among him and Karin, but the next person she saw was a woman sleeping in a bed at the back of the room, a lamp dimly lit at her bedside. Sarada watched as her Papa walked up to the woman and wrapped his arm around her, kissing the top of her head. Then she knew. There was no one in the world that had pink hair like the little girl in the photo. The moment she recognized the pink hair on this woman's head, she knew. Sarada held back the excited gasp she had.

"Sakura?"

"Mmmf..." She rolled over so her face was on her pillow, "five more minutes..."

"Sakura, we need to talk."

"Hmmm?" She blinked tiredly a few times at her visitor, "oh, Sasuke."

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Better..."

For the first time in years, Sarada saw a smile on her papa's face that she'd never seen before. It was different from the smile he gave her or even Karin.

"Good." Sasuke smiled as he rubbed her back, "listen, it's about Sarada."

"What?" Sakura's tone became serious, "is she okay?"

"She's fine. It's just that... She wants to meet you. She's picking up on things..."

"Let me guess." Sakura rolled her eyes, "Naruto."

"Yeah."

"Figured." Sakura laughed.

Sarada smiled, then felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She was happy to see her papa so happy but somehow knew that this was wrong. Very wrong.

"It'll be okay." Sakura moved her hand up to his face and stroked his hair, "just please don't let her find out. I don't want her to go through that pain."

"Karin and I are trying so hard..."

"I know... And please thank Karin for me." Sakura smiled, "that Sarada can have someone to rely on for the rest of her life. I mean, she's got you, but..."

"Yeah, I understand." Sasuke nodded as he leaned his forehead on hers, "promise me you're okay."

"I'm okay, I promise. Don't worry so much about me and go take care of your daughter." Sakura laughed.

"Yeah."

Sarada covered her mouth the moment the two leaned in and kissed. She immediately stood up and ran out of the hideout, trying to catch her breath once she was outside. What is... Sakura... Papa is cheating on Mom with Sakura?! I don't... How could Mom be okay with this? Why the hell would she not do anything about it?! Why... Why... Sarada leaned her head back and cried. Who is Sakura Haruno and why is she kissing Papa...

___________________

"Sarada! For dinner, we're having your favorite! Miso soup with tomatoes, you know you want some!" Karin called from the kitchen. The moment her gaze fell on Sarada, she stopped, "Sarada? What's wrong?"

Sarada's eyes glared at her, "nothing."

Karin gritted her teeth and clenched her fist around the spoon she held, "listen, Missy! I did not raise you to be disrespectful like this! Now tell me why you're acting so childishly!"

"I'll tell you!" Sarada stood up, "why is Papa always gone the entire day?! He left earlier this morning to go be with another woman, didn't you know that?! And you're not even going to do anything about it, that your husband is cheating on you!"

"He's not my...!" Karin froze. The look on Sarada's face as tears streamed down her cheeks tore her apart, "S-Sarada, I didn't mean--"

"You're... You're not..." Sarada was speechless, "then... Who are you..."

The front door opened and Sasuke finally walked in, "hey, I was a bit late because Boruto needed some more work on--"

"Shut up!" Sarada yelled, "you will answer my questions right now, you will tell Mom, or whoever she is, the truth, and you will tell me who Sakura Haruno is and why I can't find anything about her!"

Sasuke stared at her, then at a very frazzled Karin.

"She's not really your wife..." Sarada's voice cracked, "she never wore the Uchiha crest, I should've known. While we think you're out training, you're really with another woman, who knows what you two have been doing all day?! And neither of you, even Lord Seventh, have told me about this because it had nothing to do with me?! This has everything to do with me!"

Sasuke watched as she took her glasses off and wiped her eyes, "Sarada, we did what we did so you can grow up without any discrepancies. We love you, and we just wanted you to grow up and live a happy life... A life that none of us had."

"Well." Sarada sniffed, "it looks like your little plan did even worse than what might've originally happened."

"Sarada..." Karin stepped towards her, "please let us explain."

"No, it's too late for that now, isn't it." She set her glasses back in front of her eyes and ran out the door, blocking out every sound, voice, and ignoring everyone she ran past, until a strong hand grabbed her arm, "let go of me!"

"Whoa, you're a little feisty, aren't you? Kind of like your parents." A voice chuckled.

She glanced up at the man and immediately recognized him, "y-you..."

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Written by xX_Fang_Xx