Sunday, 25th of October. Sarada is four year and a half old.
"Dear Sasuke,
I don't really know what to say to you other than the usual... I guess. Sarada is training with Naruto today and he is teaching her how to throw Shuriken. I didn't know if I really wanted her to learn all of that this early on in life but I remembered how you were when you were five and you could throw shrunken nearly perfectly. If that is the kind of training that the Uchihas get, then our daughter will get it too.
It's been a year and a half since you've left. In six months, Sarada will turn five and she will be starting the academy at the end of the next summer. I can't really believe it. She is growing up so fast. She can talk now. She is able to form full sentences and she understands me completely.
It's funny how she became exactly like you. She is shy, quiet and very reserved. She doesn't enjoy going to the parc anymore and she would rather stay home and play with her books or plastic Shuriken. You are absent but I can see you in her and a part of me feels like you are here with us.
You know, I wrote my first letter to you six months ago and the hawk came back with it. I don't know why it did... were you ignoring me? Were you mad at me? Look, I might've written fifty letters since but all of them stayed in the house. I didn't have the courage to send them... maybe one day I will have the courage to do it. I don't think I'll ever be because of how ashamed I will feel. Some of the things said in these letters is very personal.
Sarada often asks about you. So far she knows that you're out there fighting bad guys but this won't work forever. One day she will not believe me anymore unless you say it to her yourself. She remembers you as a father figure but she has no really memories of you.
I hope everything is fine.
Sakura."
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Present time. Sarada is four and a half years old.
Sasuke was running around the castle of the dimension. He had tried about a hundred times to get in it but he just couldn't find a way in. It was like it had been built without any door or any other way in. It was driving him insane.
The urgency of the mission was making it even more frustrating. He knew that there was a risk, he didn't know what the risk was exactly, but he knew that someone could arrive and the fact that he couldn't find any information was a torture.
He suddenly stopped and gritted his teeth. It was pointless to stay here, completely pointless.
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Present time. Sarada is four and a half years old.
"Mama! Look at how I throw Rushiken!"
"Shuriken, Sarada." Sakura was standing behind her daughter. She had joined Naruto's training to see how they were doing and as soon as she got there, Sarada stopped everything to show her her progress.
"Shiruken!" Sarada screamed proudly. Sakura's heart felt full in her chest.
"Not quite... but that's better. Show me how Naruto taught you to throw one." she placed herself behind her daughter and kneeled down to be at her level. Sarada threw it at the target in front of her. The star shaped weapon landed at the very edge of it and was barely holding in it.
"See mama! See mama!"
"Yes!!! Congratulations!"You're so so strong!"
Sarada screamed and hugged her mom. Sakura smiled as she held her daughter in her arms. It was rare for Sarada to hug now so she was cherishing every time he was doing it.
"Mama? Can dada throw Rushiken?"
"He is the best. Come on Sarada, we have to go to Kakashi-sensei's office."
She stood up and when she tried to walk, her daughter grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt and stopped her.
"Mama, where is dada?"
"I told you already, he is away doing something very important. Do you miss him?"
Sarada shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know him. I know he is real because everyone has a dad but not me."
He heart squeezed in her chest. "Oh baby listen," she kneeled down and pushed a strand of her daughter black hair behind her ear. "Your dada loves you and he is away to protect you. You have a dad, he is different than the other dads but he cares about you. You are a lot like him, you know that?"
"Why is he not here?"
"Because he has to fight bad guys."
"But you said bad guys are not here."
"Because he is fighting them. Look I'll ask Kakashi-sensei if he knows exactly where dada is, ok?"
She nodded and took her hand before walking to the Hokage's tower with her daughter. She had to slow down her pace so that Sarada wasn't struggling to follow her. They arrived twenty minutes later.
Sakura saw Shikamaru in front of the door.
"Ah, you're here. The Hokage is waiting for you Sakura. Sarada, are staying with me?"
"Mama!"
"Don't worry, it's only Shikamaru. He is nice you can stay with him."
Sarada slowly unwrapped her arm from around Sakura's leg and she shyly walked to Shikamaru. Sakura nodded at him and entered the office.
"Kakashi-sensei?" she asked nicely. Her former sensei looked up from a piece of paper and nodded at her.
"Ah, Sakura. You're finally here."
"Yes sorry... Sarada wanted to show me how she throws Shuriken."
"Is she doing well?"
"Not too bad!" Sakura giggled.
"Listen, I wanted to ask you something. Sarada is less than a year away from starting at the academy. Will she be ready for it?"
"I don't know... she was a premature baby so she is more fragile than the other children but..."
"We live in a time of peace. The training isn't as hard as it used to be. If you wish to wait one more year before she gets in, I have no problem with that."
"No, I want her to be with Boruto and the others."
"Very well. She will be starting next September. That's all I wanted to know. I have to start making the list of the children that will be starting."
Sakura nodded and walked back to the door.
"Sakura."
She turned around and smiled. "Yes?"
"How are you handling the situation?"
"Good." he nodded and she turned back to the door. As soon as her hand landed on the door handle, she remembered what Sarada asked her earlier. "Kakashi-sensei? Have you got any news from him?"
"Nothing in a year."
She let go of the handle and rushed to the desk in a panic that she failed to hide. "Nothing at all?!"
"No, nothing. He was supposed to go to the ice dimension first."
"But he definitely didn't stay there for an entire year."
"Remember when the two of you travelled to them? You were convinced that a few days had passed but in our world weeks passed."
"Time is different over there."
"Exactly. Maybe for him only a month passed."
"But what if something happened? None of us can go and help him."
"He knew the risks, Sakura. Didn't you?"
"I..."
"You do... you know the risks and that's why you're mad at yourself for not spending time with him before he left."
"It is what it is. I have to go."
She walked out of the office and picked up her daughter on her way out of the tower.
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Present time. Sarada is four and a half years old.
Knock knock knock
"Sakura-Chan?"
No one replied but the blonde still opened the door. Sakura's behaviour towards Sasuke was worrisome and if the situation between these two didn't get better soon, Sarada will greatly suffer. She was already suffering based on the conversation he over heard when Sakura came to see the training session. He knew that Sakura's excuse wouldn't work forever.
He walked around the house trying to see if maybe Sakura was here asleep or something but the house was empty. A pile of paper on the kitchen counter caught his attention and he walked up to it. It took him a second to recognize Sakura's writing and he immediately thought of Sasuke. Were they letters for him? He flipped through the pages, trying to read as less as possible but all of them started with "Dear Sasuke." Letters, these were indeed letters but letters that had never been sent.
He knew what he had to do so he picked up the letters and brought them with him. His heart was beating in his chest fast and he rushed out to make sure that Sakura wouldn't see him. Sasuke needed to receive these letters.
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Present time. Sarada is four and a half years old.
The portal closed behind him and Sasuke landed on the hard ground. He watched it as it collapsed and when it disappeared, he stood up. His eyes scanned the area to see if he knew where he was. Judging by the lack of trees he was either out of the Land of Fire or at the border of it. With a shrug of his shoulders he jumped on top of a tree to see if he could find a village. Fortunetely for him, he spotted an inn not too far from where he was.
He jumped his way there and landed in front of the door. An old lady was sitting on a chair just right out of it and was reading a newspaper. She jumped when he stood in front of her.
"I didn't mean to frighten you. I can see an article about the Rinne festival, is it soon?" he asked.
"The Rinne festival is in two months. Why?"
"I was travelling and lost track of time. Thank you for your help."
His feet moved him away from her and back into the small forest. If the Rinne festival was in two months, it meant that they were in October now which meant that he had been gone for seven months only. Sarada will be turning four very soon.
He sat against the bark of a tree and let his mind wander. Seven months, he had been gone for seven months and didn't have any new information at all to send to Kakashi. This whole thing was frustrating to him.
A noise coming from the sky made him lift his head up and his eyes landed on a hawk. The bird stopped next to him and Sasuke saw that it was carrying a pile of letters. He frowned his eyebrows and picked them up, they couldn't be from Kakashi.
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So I apologise for the late chapter. My friend is sleeping over at my house so I had to wait until he got in bed to write. It's 5am and I am wrecked but I hope everything makes sense xx