Ummm idk how to tell many of you new recent followers but I DO NOT have a Tiktok. But the NSFW audio posts about Kakashi and Sasuke ARE mine as well as the translations. Feel free to hang around for those but please be warned that I am not on Tiktok.
Series: Lifetimes
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: SasuSaku
Rated: K
Prompt: Sarada was supposed to be sleeping but tonight is one of the rare times that Papa is home. He is always on airplanes and hunched over stacks of paper. All she wants is to play with him and hug him and color with him. She glanced at the living room where Mama was on the phone with Auntie Ino before tip toeing down the hall to Papa’s study. Mama always said not to bother Papa when the door to his study is closed. But tonight, the door’s slightly open. She was going to use that to her advantage. She peeks at the small opening and she could see Papa fighting to stay awake at his desk. She frowned and walked in. “Papa,” she pouts. “You said you’d read me a bedtime story.” Mama ended up doing it earlier and she was disappointed. Mama was always reading to her. She wanted it to be Papa this time.
Idea: Anonymous
Note: I won’t lie I’m not happy with how I ended this. It feels stiff.
The tiniest of feet are carrying from her bedroom. Fingers are careful in leaving the door cracked just enough should she need to make a quick break for her bed. Her mother had long since sent her to bed, but that would not stop her from her goal—papa was home.
Work had kept her father away from them, and it’s only on the rarest of occasions that he’s not on a plane flying away to places she had never heard of, or deep within the stacks of papers that towered upon his desk. She did not wish for much from her father. She had already passed the phase of always asking why he was never home, and why he could not skip work to play with her. She knows he does it because he has too but it does not lessen the desire, and the longing. It does not lessen her wishes and it does not lessen her attempts to spend time with him.
Her mother’s voice is just down the hall, and just within the living room. Holding her breath she dares to steal a glance from the doorway. Her mother is deep within a conversation on the phone, and it’s as she peers from the door way that she catches wind that it’s her beloved Auntie Ino. There’s fear she’ll be caught and a her smallest movements to press her back against the wall. A deep inhale meant to settle her nerves comes, and it’s as her mother lets out a laugh at something the blonde has said does she take her chance to pass by. She pauses pressing her back against the wall once more having it made it passed the entrance to the living room. The exhale she takes is louder than she intends and makes her clasp her small hands upon her mouth. There’s a second of wait for her as she sees if she’s alerted her mother, and then there’s the pause to settle herself once more gazing at the door parted just slightly.
Her mother had always warned her to never bother her father when the door to his study was closed, and yet tonight it was not completely shut—light spills from the small opening. She would not need to stand upon the tips of her toes to unlock it, and she would not be breaking her mother’s warning. Tiptoeing down the hall there’s the occasional look behind her and then a peek within the door. There’s no missing the pinch of his brows and the fingers dug within locks of ebony pulling his bangs from his eyes. There’s a heaviness to his lids that dip slightly as his hand scribbles upon a page. Swallowing to steel her resolve she takes careful steps in letting herself in, and doing her best to place the door exactly as it had been.
“Sarada?” his voice is laced in exhaustion, but he doesn’t look angry.
“Papa.” there’s the kick of her foot upon the floor in nervousness, “You said you would read me a bedtime story.” she dares to look to him within the dip of her head.
The wheels of his chair come to her ears, and he’s coming around his desk. He’s bending down to her and then his fingers once dug within his locks have come to run through her own, “Did Mama not read you one?” his voice is soft.
“She did. . . but I wanted you to read me one.” she’s puffing her cheeks within her honesty.
Her mother was always good about reading to her before bed, but it’s within these small chances that she longs to have him read to her. There had been a pout upon her face as her mother had read to her earlier—she had been unhappy that he had been wrapped within his work.
“Ah.” he hums out picking her up from her waist and settling her within his arm, “Let’s see what we have.”
His fingers skim across the books that lined the shelves within his study. They halt upon one, “Would you like me to read to you about global economic change?” he’s teasing her within the drag of his voice.
“Papa!” she’s puffing those cheeks of hers within her giggles, “Noo!”
“Okay, okay—hm.” he’s crossing the room to the smaller shelf, “How’s The Rainbow Fish, or Corduroy?”
“The Rainbow Fish!” she’s excited within her choices as she tightens her hold upon his lavender dress shirt, “The Rainbow Fish, papa!”
“Okay, okay—shh you don’t want your mother to hear you.” he’s chiding lightly grabbing the requested book, and making his way to the desk chair. Sitting her within his lap he leans back within his chair letting her snuggle within his arm.
The Rainbow Fish is a book she’s well acquainted with, but that did not lessen her love for it. The colors had captured her eyes, and was one she requested often. Her mother had read it countless times, and yet this would be the first time her papa had read it to her. There’s the smallest wonder in if he has read this book too.
He’s opening the cover, and flipping the title page placing a wide smile upon her face. His voice is smooth within her ear, “A long way out in the deep blue sea there lived a fish. Not just an ordinary fish, but the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean. His scales were every shade of blue and green and purple, with sparkling silver scales among them.”
The press of his lips to her head comes with the flip of her page. She cannot stop herself from nuzzling within the affection he’s giving her. The affection only seeks to make her curl her fingers within his shirt once more as she takes in his warmth, “He’s such a pretty fish, papa.”
“He is.” his voice is gentle as he continues on with reading to her, “The other fish were amazed by his beauty. They called him Rainbow Fish. ‘Come on, Rainbow Fish’, they would call, ‘Come and play with us!’ but the Rainbow Fish would just glide past, proud and silent, letting his scales shimmer.”
Her papa’s voice is just soft enough for her to hear as he continues with another flip of the page. Tiny fingers seek to touch the fish upon the page running over this fish so pretty. His fingers come over her own as they run across his scales, and she cannot stop herself from turning to him with the widest of smiles. He’s never one for large bright smiles, but there’s a tenderness behind his smile at her. He continues as she settles back within him. His voice deep, and soothing becoming a lull of warmth that washes over her.
The pages come and go. He’s slow within his reading and there is the occasional run of his fingers upon her shoulder. There’s a sadness that washes over her in the other fish avoiding the Rainbow Fish, and a pout upon her lips, “The poor Rainbow Fish didn’t want to give away his scales.”
“Ah—he didn’t, but sometimes it’s good to share with others.” his fingers thread within her obsidian locks rubbing soothing circles within her hair.
She’s pouting but it’s lessening with each movement of his fingers. A sigh of contentment falls before he’s flipping to the next page withdrawing his fingers from within her hair. There’s a longing for them, but it’s as his voice comes to her that the momentary longing disappears. Her mother’s voice is always gentle, and soft within the reading, and he wonders if she had learned to do it from papa. There’s the childish curiosity of if her parents read books to each other—they’re not children like her, but she thinks it would be cute to see her mother sit beside her father as he reads her a book just as he is doing now.
The turn of her body seeks to press herself further into him breathing in his sent. The Rainbow Fish that glides through the pages brings a sad smile, and a yawn from deep within her. Her father’s voice deepens with the words of the octopus telling the Rainbow Fish to share his scales with the others if he wishes to be happy.
Obsidian are slow in looking up at this man so busy, but so warm. He’s never home, and he’s always traveling. This is what she wishes for more than anything. She wants more time with him, and she wants to have him hold her as he reads. There’s the whisper within her head that she hopes he misses times like this with her as much as she does. Her mother missed him, and she missed him—what if she were to ask him for more of his time? Would he give her that?
Her lids continue to attempt to fall, and yet she is fighting through the sleepiness that’s come over her within the lull of his voice. Obsidian look to the pages of the fish swimming, and the selfishness of the Rainbow Fish makes her wonder if she is being selfish with her wishes, and longing. Her mother, and her continued to wait patiently for him—and she knows they will have to continue to wait for him. He’s doing his best her mother had told her before. He’s working hard to provide for them her mother had said, and she knows that her mother isn’t wrong.
Another yawn softer and deeper than the previous falls, “—Only one very small shimmer scale, he thought. Well maybe I wouldn’t miss just one.”
There’s a fade of the book before her, and the blur that comes with continued dropping lids. She’s not sure at what point she’s missed some of the story as she drags her lids open. A hum escapes her lips as he father’s voice never wavers of leaves her ears. The smile she has now is no longer wide, and beaming. It’s no longer large, but soft with hints of sleep. The inhale she takes is calm, and deep as she settles to lay her head back, and allow her lids to close.
“Finally the Rainbow Fish had only one shining scale left. His most prized possessions had been given away, yet he was very happy. ‘Come on Rainbow Fish,’ they called, ‘Come play with us!’ ‘Here I come ,’ said the Rainbow Fish and, happy as a splash he swam off to join his friends.” he’s pressing another kiss upon her head before turning to the last page.
She’s mumbling within her sleep, “He’s. . .happy, papa.”
The hum that falls from him comes as she gives way to the smallest of snores, “Ah, he is, isn’t he?”
“I’d say he is.” the voice of his wife comes from the door—she’s leaning within the doorway with her arms crossed and that playful smile upon her face.
“Sakura.”
“Sasuke-kun,” she’s whispering within her steps to him, “Sorry. I didn’t hear her wake.”
Fingers slide the book upon the table in an attempt to keep her from waking. He’s careful taking her within his arms as he raises to meet her within the front of his desk. His wife’s fingers come to press upon her back, “No—it’s not your fault. I need to work harder, and make more time for her. . .” his fingers run within his child, so small, within his arm’s hair pressing her head against his shoulder, “—for you, too.”
This woman so patient, and so loving can only widen the smile upon her lips as she brings her fingers within his hair brush them from his eyes, “You’re doing just fine. She misses you—I miss you, but we understand.”
There's a hum that falls from him at the feeling of her fingers within his hair. The dip of his head comes, there's a hint of shy upon him with his daughter within his arms, but the press of his lips comes against this wife so understanding. She is the rock within his world. She has stood tall within his constant absences, and she will continue to do so. She had never wavered, and she had never lashed out. There's no one stronger then this woman of pale pink, and sea green eyes.
He knows he does not deserve this woman so strong, and this child so well behaved. Yet, there is no denying how happy they made him even when he could not give back all that he wanted. A noise falls from him as he follows his wife from his study thinking back upon the book he had just read to his daughter.
The Rainbow Fish had become happy within his giving. He too would give more to make sure his daughter could be just as happy. He misses her, and he misses his child—he knows they miss him as he works to provide and give to them. He can only hope that he can give back all the time he's missed.
