vigil of the loved

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/2747696.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Gen
Fandom: Naruto
Relationship: Uchiha Sarada & Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sarada & Uchiha Family,
Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Character: Uchiha Sarada, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Fugaku,
Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Itachi
Additional Tags: Ghosts, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst
Stats: Published: 2014-12-10 Words: 1066

vigil of the loved

by anthropologicalhands

Summary

Sarada's home is full of ghosts. The dead do their best to love the living.

Notes

I still love the Uchiha family, and I love to think of their reactions to Sasuke's family.

Their house is new and built just for them, but it has ghosts all the same.

Not many ghosts: only three.

Sarada does not fear them, for she has known them all her life. They are nothing like the ghosts in
Uncle Naruto’s scary stories.

They are family.

Papa’s family.

They died a long time before Sarada was born, but Sarada knows them because Papa does not want
to forget. He takes her to their graves, shows her their pictures, and when she asks questions he
answers them readily.
(Except when she asks how they died. That, Papa says, is a question he can only really answer when
she’s older)

She has studied their family portrait many times; the only one Papa keeps out in the open. The stern
lines of Grandfather’s face, the curve of Grandmother’s smile, or the frankness of Uncle’s eyes.

(Papa has Uncle’s eyes, Grandfather’s face, and Grandmother’s smile)

She has not told Papa about their presence, but only because they do not want him to know. They do
not speak, though they always listen, and they make their thoughts known to her in small ways.

--

Grandfather didn’t smile in the photographs. And according to Papa, he rarely smiled outside of
them. This seems odd to Sarada; since she has known Grandfather, he has always had smiles for her.

He sits just outside their main door, always vigilant. Every day, from the moment she leaves to the
moment she returns. Every day, he welcomes her with a grave nod; she tries to return the gesture
with a respectful bow—at least as long as no one else is with her and might wonder why she was
bowing to thin air.

He looks after the house while Papa is gone, to make sure she and Mama are undisturbed. And even
when Papa is home, she knows that Grandfather walks the hall at night, searching for those who
might dare wish his family harm.

He is nothing like her Mama’s papa, with his silly jokes and goofy smile, but Sarada loves him all the
same. He is comfortable and even if he is not the one who keeps misfortune away, she feels safe. On
quiet days she likes to sit by his side, with either a book or crayons or a piece of string, and let the
hours pass by.

There is nothing but affection and pride in his eyes when he looks at her. He is impressed by Mama,
and always nods respectfully to her as she passes to and fro on her way to work.

But with Papa…

It always makes her heart twist to see him look at Papa. When Papa comes home, that is one of the
only times she will see Grandfather in the house. There is love in his eyes for Papa, and the same
pride he gives to Sarada. But there is sadness and regret and pain as well.

Things that run deep.

Things that, for of Papa’s promises of older and later, she might never understand.

--

Grandmother is the most beautiful woman Sarada has ever seen, excepting Mama and, she decides
loyally, Auntie Ino.

It is around Mama that Sarada sees Grandmother at her most lively. Grandmother never met Mama
while she was alive, but loves her all the same. She likes to help Mama around the house: directing
Mama’s eyes to books she wants to find, or to unlocked doors, or even once unearthing Sarada’s
unfinished homework from where it got lost in Mama’s paperwork.

Grandmother especially likes to help Mama cook. She will lean against the counter, hands folded,
and watch as Mama chops vegetables and measures rice. She touches Mama’s hands to stop rubbing
spices into the meat, or taps her forehead so that Mama will look up and see that the water has started
to boil.

Papa told her Grandmother was gentle and kind. Sarada sees that Grandmother is mischievous,
delighted with her ability to help so secretly. She smiles and puts a finger to her lips when she
catches Sarada watching her, a reminder to keep their secret.

Sarada mimics the gesture, and can never quite hide her laughter when Mama looks at her funny and
asks what she is trying to say.

--

It is her uncle that Sarada sees the least, only turning up when her papa comes home. Sarada thinks
he follows Papa, to help him the way her grandparents help her and Mama.

But when Uncle is present, he is frequently with her. He watches her practice throwing shruiken or
hitting a dummy with a wooden sword. She tells him about her favorite sweets and her friends; he
indicates his questions with the merest tilt of the head. But like Grandfather and Grandmother, he
never answers her questions. He listens to her complaints and smiles when she giggles and pokes her
gently on the forehead when she runs out of words to say.

Papa always says that Uncle is gentle and that is all she sees.

--

She rarely sees the three of them together. Sometimes, Grandmother might sit with Grandfather
outside, or Uncle joins Grandmother in the kitchen, but more often than not, they stay in their
respective spaces.

When they don’t, it means that Papa has returned or that he will leave again. On those nights, when
her family is together, whether in the kitchen or the living room or curled up on the futon in her
bedroom, she will look over to the doorway and see the ghosts standing there, watching.

She does not know why they will not come closer. Every time, she beckons to them, but they never
dare to step through the threshold.

It confuses Sarada, why they hold themselves apart at these times when the family is together.

(It is almost like they are ashamed, like they do not feel as though they have the right. She sees
longing in their faces and wishes she could take their hands and pull them in)

Come join us, she begs in her head, hoping against hope they will hear. Let Mama and Papa see
you. Come be part of the family.

But they do not. Instead, the ghosts observe her little family for a while, and melt back to their
respective roles.

--

The dead cannot speak.

Cannot divulge their reasons.

It does not mean they do not show their love as best they can.
Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!