Years Ago

Disclaimer: This story utilises characters, situations and premises that are copyright Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Shonen Jump and Viz media. No infringement on their respective copyrights pertaining to episodes, novelisations, comics or short stories is intended by KuriQuinn in any way, shape or form. This fan-oriented story is written solely for the author's own amusement and the entertainment of the readers. It is not for profit. Any resemblance to real organizations, institutions, products or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All plot and Original Characters except for those introduced in the canon books, manga, video games, novelizations and anime, are the sole creation of KuriQuinn. (© KuriQuinn 2016- )

Author's Note: This isn't exactly new, but it was only posted on tumblr. Since tumblr is now doing stupid things and I'm worried I might lose my stuff because their system for flagging inappropriate content is complete shite, I'm backing up everything. Ao3 and Quotev will have my NSFW stuff, as well as the Dreamwidth account I've linked to tumblr. Everything else will be uploaded here, FFnet and ao3.

_____

Sarada may only be four years old, but even she can tell that there is something going on with her parents.

There is a lot of activity in the house.

Papa gets a lot of visits from Uncle Naruto and Uncle Kakashi, poring over scrolls and polishing his weapons. Mama is in the kitchen more often, making food or mending clothes. Whenever she does that, Papa goes away for a few days. Sarada is usually sad about that, but he always returns with a sweet or a present for her, and then everything goes back to normal for a while.

Except this time, there is something off about the whole thing. Mama's smiles are wrong and her eyes troubled; Papa is quieter than usual and when Sarada looks into his eyes, she feels like crying.

One night, her parents tuck her into bed, and Papa holds onto Sarada much longer than he usually does. Something about this makes her afraid, and she bursts into tears. Papa pulls away, and Mama asks her what's wrong, but Sarada can't explain. She doesn't know enough words yet.

She just holds tightly to Papa's hand and lets Mama stroke her hair until she falls asleep.

Except her dreams don't leave her alone. In them, a giant black shadow gobbles Papa up, leaving Mama crying until it devours her too.

Sarada screams until she wakes herself up.

The lights in her room flick on and Mama and Papa rush in. If she wasn't so scared, Sarada would think Papa looks funny, carrying a sword and standing in the tomato-sushi jammies she and Mama got him for his birthday.

Upon seeing that there is no one in the room, her parents relax incrementally. Papa puts down the sword, and then they are both kneeling and sitting on her bed beside her.

"Sweetheart, what's the matter?" Mama asks, lifting her into her lap. Sarada buries her face in her shoulder. "Did you have a nightmare?" Still blubbering, Sarada nods into her neck. "What was it about?"

Sarada shivers in reply, and it takes a little more of Mama rubbing circles on her back before she trusts herself to speak.

"Papa went away," she whispers.

She feels Mama turn her head toward Papa, and then nudges Sarada with her cheek.

"Papa goes away all the time on missions," she tells her gently. "He always come back."

"Not this time," Sarada replies, still trembling. "The shadow eated him."

"Shadow?"

"It had sharp teeths and yellow eyes and...and...and Papa tried to fighted it, but it eated him!" Sarada's voice becomes steadily more distraught with every word, and by the second half of her sentences it's more garbled sob than anything else.