"The Babadook" is one of the best psychological horror movies of this decade, and I never thought it would inspire me to do something for Sarada and Uncle Itachi. The film deals with grief, coping with that grief, and battling personal as well as real demons involving a mother and her young son when the father died the night the mother was going into labor. Now this time, after losing both her parents on the day she was born, Sarada is being raised by Itachi...and one night a creepy children's book appears in her room. For those who have seen the movie, you know where this goes. And for those who haven't, I recommend it. (shivers) It's the kind of film you DO NOT want to watch alone at night with the lights off...

Thanks to a reliable translation site, the title of this fic is the Japanese name of the anagram for "bad book". I don't know if the latter is true, but it does have a nice ring. XD

I own nothing, not the characters or even "The Babadook" crossed with our favorite anime/manga.

Chapter One

The Storybook

Flashes of white.

Screams.

Shattering glass between intervals of time.

"Sasuke!"

"SAKURA!"

He would awake then and there, with the cold sweat. The alarm had just struck seven, making him sigh sharply. With an annoyed grunt, he reached over and slammed the button to snooze the alarm. He then sat up and stretched his bones, popping them and sighing with relief. Once he had his coffee, he would feel better. Albeit temporarily. He had a long day ahead of him.

Unless SHE doesn't give cause to another incident.

Itachi Uchiha opened the curtains of his bedroom in the small house within the old Uchiha district of Konoha. Time-honored, shrine-like structures remained even in these modern times. His family was one of the oldest few to remain and keep some of the old up to date and intact for eternity, as to not let the way of life go to waste. But alas, only he and a handful few Uchiha remained after the plague which nearly wiped them out over a decade ago.

His parents were taken then. Uncle and Auntie especially. But he, Shisui and his little brother Sasuke had been left - and now two were here.

And one more addition.

"Itachi-oji!"

He whirled around then and there, frowning at the small girl standing in the doorway of his bedroom. Black hair cropped just below her ears, matching eyes behind a pair of broad spectacles rimmed with red, schoolbag slung around one shoulder and dressed in a creamy sweater and dark jeans. Just behind her was Kyuui, their little black Bombay whom Sarada rescued off the streets last year. The feline meowed and rushed over to leap onto the bed, tail swishing out as he licked at one of his hind legs.

"Sara-chan, will you ever learn to knock first?" Itachi chided as he walked over in her direction. "And could you at least learn to humor me by waiting patiently?"

Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout, very much like her father, his younger brother, used to do when he'd poke his head and say "maybe next time". But now was another matter.

"I'm sorry, Uncle."

Itachi sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, tugging the back of his ponytail in the process. "No, I am sorry." He had never been a morning person even though he should be used to it by now. He had taken up the responsibility of the three roles in one ever since her parents had been killed the night she was born. Sasuke had been driving; it had all happened on the way to the hospital when Sakura's water broke in the middle of the night. His brother then called him to meet them - but then a terrible accident happened that he had been so close when he found the car on the side of the road and rushed them both. Sakura was barely conscious, though Sasuke had broken his neck in the hit. His younger brother was gone in a few moments, but he'd prayed there should have been time to save him.

An emergency C-section was performed that night. A beautiful, healthy baby girl was born, but her mother was on life support for a year; by then, there had been no signs of improvement. No one was left to make the decision to sign the papers and pull the plug...except him.

He was never in the car with them, but the dreams that came from the horror of losing them both and gaining custody of their newborn daughter - it was as if he had been there and felt responsible for their deaths even though he wasn't.

After showering, dressing and getting his coffee - she'd eaten breakfast she'd made herself before she showed up at his room - he drove her to school. Another day, the same routine. After work and he picked her up, he was taking her to the grocery store. She was going to enjoy a good seafood feast because she deserved it. It had been a while since Itachi enjoyed a real meal himself. He looked behind him to the girl watching him intently as she had been gazing out the window much of the time. Their conversations were sparse at finest. The previous night, she'd awoken him late, claiming to have heard the monster again, resorting to a check under the bed and in the closet. Nothing.

Children had the phase of "seeing monsters", but not the way his seven-year-old niece did. It was like she, on the night of her tragic birth, developed an abnormal sensory. Sometimes, he considered talking to a psychiatrist for advice without admitting her to weekly therapy sessions at her age.

Sarada doesn't need professional help. She always talks to me.

The little girl came around to the front, the window rolled down, and she pecked him a kiss on the cheek. "Aishimasu, oji-san," she said sweetly, but those eyes betrayed mischief. Chuckling, Itachi watched her go and placed his palm to where the lingering, innocent warmth burned his skin.

"Aishimasu."

~o~

There was no sense burying his brother and sister-in-law in the cold ground to be forgotten over time. He thought it best if he had them in possession of his own since Sakura's parents died a couple years ago, and his and Sasuke's long before that. Otouto had only been sixteen at the time.

Rain poured murderously outside the small church. The priest cited the incantation for the journey of the couple into the next life.

Some eyes were rimmed with red and wet with tears, others having finished shedding and were flushed over their faces. Others glanced over at the man in the front, staring only at the back of his head, and a few on either side of him. His handsome, tired face was impassive, the tear troughs beneath his eyes prominent. His lustrous, long raven hair was tied back below his neck. The white-lined black kimono wrapped comfortably around his body; in his arms, he cradled the newborn who was barely a week old.

He closed his eyes, drowning out the priest's words. "You're not to blame, little one," he said softly to the baby, who was all he had left of Sasuke and Sakura. The words repeated in his subconscious, but his clenching heart never softened.

~o~

Originally, Itachi Uchiha was a police officer in Konoha Division, but while it had been his honor to serve the town he loved, it also would have taken him away from his niece who needed him as he was the only family she had left. His pension had paid handsomely, in addition to what his parents left him and Sasuke - and now what Sasuke left would one day go to his daughter when she was of age.

Ever since leaving the force, he found a job as a history teacher at the local high school, history being one of his many other specialties. It wasn't as much as his old job had been, but it was well enough to cover him and his niece. Plus, the hours gave him enough time to drop Sarada off at her school and then come to get her when the day was over.

His students were half well-behaved and a good quarter portion being the worst possible, but the majority passed with flying colors. Uchiha-san was one of the best Konoha High offered, with his credentials and his family history. He was very strict, when he needed to be. To those who deserved it, he rewarded them.

Among who taught economics was Neji Hyuuga, the cousin of Hinata Uzumaki. The wife of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke's best friend. He considered the Hyuuga to be a valuable coworker and one of the few true friends Itachi had, besides Shisui and Kakashi Hatake who remained at the KPD. Naruto and his family were also the only ones the Uchiha could keep close since his brother's death, as otouto, the blond and Sakura all grew up from the time they were toddlers.

It was this school they first met, the one Sarada and Naruto's son Boruto, who was a playmate and friend of hers, attended now - irony in its own - but it was also run currently by principal Tsunade Senju, a retired physician who was a legend and found another position to fill her time rather than just going out to gamble and get drunk on occasion. She had been Sakura's teacher in medical school.

But the worst of the down side was Koharu and Homura were still the counselors, even if they were at the age of retirement.

Which was why he had been told by Jiraiya, who taught English literature and was the author of an adult series of his own, had informed him from the principal's office that Sarada's school was on the phone and wanted to speak to him, her legal guardian, immediately.

"What has happened now?" he demanded furiously, storming into their shared office, glowering with murderous intent upon the two old windbags. "Whatever my niece has done -"

"Be silent, Itachi," Homura stated. "The girl has punched a classmate in the face. According to her claim, the victim of her fist had called her 'four eyes' and 'Miss Goody Two Shoes' yet again. He is in the infirmary at the very moment, but she is with Tsunade-san at the very moment." Itachi's blood was boiling to optimum levels.

His niece was still being bullied, and these two were letting the perpetrators get away with it. He had been thinking about this for awhile now - "Well, I suppose that means I can say that I won't have the serious talk now with her," he said coldly, earning a snort from Koharu.

"Oh, we have had the talk with the girl, Itachi. But honestly, we cannot condone such behavior any longer. If your niece insists on breaking the rules and laying a hand on a fellow student, then we have no choice but to put her under twenty-four-hour surveillance as long as she is on grounds. We must keep her separated from the other children for their own protection."

For THEIR own protection - not hers!

Itachi exploded then and there. His niece, his brother's daughter - his own flesh and blood - was being treated like an outcast because of these two old break winds' personal grudges against his family. He stood up with a vengeance and clenched his fists. "You will do no such thing. I intend to do what I should have done a long time ago; I will take her out of this school and put her in a new one." He smirked internally at the shock on the faces of those two.

"Itachi, you cannot just do this!" Koharu exclaimed. "You can't just take her out of school -"

"Oh, but I will," he hissed, leaning over the desk. "My niece, the only thing I have left of my younger brother, deserves to be treated as the human being she is." He turned his attention then to Homura who grunted about "the girl" under his breath. "Oh, and by the way, she has a name - Sa-ra-da. Sarada Uchiha. You will do well to quit calling her 'the girl' as if she's not even human."

~o~

"The old lady hates me," Sarada grumbled in the backseat as they were leaving the school. "She says I am just like my daddy..."

Itachi sighed behind the wheel. If there was one thing he loathed, it was being compared to someone in your family. But to think about her fighting back with her hand, and against the rules. "No, you don't deserve to be treated like that." For now, while he would begin the search and take some time to do it, he would keep her from knowing about his decision. But that still left... "But you never should have hit that boy the way you did," he said firmly, looking at her through the rearview mirror.

Unlike most children who threw temper tantrums, Sarada simply lifted her nose at him and peered at him over her glasses. "He called me Four-Eyes and said I was worse than my father. That's what they all say!"

"As much as I am inclined to agree with you, it pains me to tell you that you must endure no matter what. How many times do I need to instill this in you? An Uchiha never lets their emotions get the best of them." Unfortunately, she did inherit that from both her parents - and her mother's fist.

"You hate me, too, Uncle."

He stifled the gasp that threatened to escape. No, he did not! "Where would you get an idea like that, Sara-chan?"

"Because it seems everyone does, just because of who my parents were," she said bitterly. "I'm great in school, but not around people." Itachi didn't know how to respond to that. For once, he couldn't think of what to say.

Instead, he settled on reaching around and giving her a gentle pat on the knee for assurance.

The rest of the day was without trouble. Given it was a long day and they were both tired, Itachi decided today they would spend the day at home and then enjoy some cartoons just for her. Kyuui was happy to see them when they came home. Sarada's face lit up at both the kitty and the marathons streaming by the time evening dropped. It made his heart leap with joy at seeing her happy. He brought in the groceries, telling her to go wash up so he got dinner ready. He bought enough for the promised feast, but he decided today would be a change of plans and stick to the TV dinners imported from the states.

Later, with Sarada in her purple-and-pink plaid pajamas, it was bedtime and a story first. For now, he had stuck to the kinds a child would understand, even though she was a progressively learning reader. "You can pick one tonight," Itachi told her as he slid into the bed, raising an eyebrow at the plain red cover she brought to him. He furrowed his brows at the strange but sharply defined black figure without a face, with a top hat and clawed hands straight down on either side of its body. The kanji title read ミスターババドック.

Mister Babadook - or Babadook-san. "Sarada, where did you get this?" He did not remember ever seeing this. Could it have been hidden somewhere in the house without anyone knowing?

"It was on the shelf," she answered. Itachi continued to frown, trying to wrack his brain before giving up altogether and deciding to humor her. He opened the book and began to read the first page aloud.

"If it's in a word or it's in a look, you can't get rid of the Babadook."

He began to assume this "Babadook" - or babadokku - was an entity that no one ever heard of, or a fictional one at that, which resided in the house. It didn't say who wrote this strange children's tale, nor was there a reason, but his interest was piqued enough that he turned the next page to show the mysterious top-hatted character poking "his" head out from a wardrobe closet, now sporting an eye. "If you're a really clever one, and you know what it is to see, then you can make friends with a special one - a friend of you and me." At the bottom of the page was a black-painted piece of paper which he discovered was hooked to the hand of the character, pulling it out for a wave which made Sarada giggle. Itachi chuckled with her before turning to the next.

"His name is Mister Babadook, and this is his book."

Kyuui meowed and thumped his tail on the foot of the bed as he listened. This was a little girl looking at the closed wardrobe doors as - "A rumbling sound, then three sharp knocks - ba BA-ba DOOK! DOOK! DOOK! That's when you'll know that he's around. You'll see him when you look." And so the doors of the closet were given to open, which Sarada read aloud in repetition.

"Ba, BA-ba...dook. Dook. Dook," she said, scrunching her nose.

Why do I have a strange feeling about this? "Sara-chan," he said, closing the book but keeping his finger in the current place, "we might read another tonight, hn?"

She looked up at him with furrowed brows. "Oji-san, you said I could choose," she reminded him. Sighing, he reopened the thing again - but what he found on the next page made him think that perhaps he should have taken a glimpse at this damned thing first before he opened it.

"This is what he wears on top." Top hat in place...now he saw white chalk sculpting piercing eyes and jagged teeth. A monster. "He's funny, don't you think?"

Here now, with the child in bed and looking above with an expression of unbridled fear at the creature overhead, the pop-up bubble quote reading Let Me In! - 入らせて！- as "see him in your room at night, and you won't sleep a wink."

"Uncle Itachi," Sarada whimpered, shrinking into him, "does it hurt the girl?"

It was obvious she was no longer paying attention as he continued to flip through the pages and gritted his teeth at the last of it before he came across this, which would make another young child and lesser person break out into the coldest sweat:

"I'll soon take off my funny disguise." (take heed of what you read)

Sarada's questions began to get crazed, from asking if it lived under the bed or in the closet, but he couldn't answer, only focused his attention on the ravenous thing of nightmares as it showed its nightmarish teeth and soulless eyes to the victim beneath. And once you've seen what's underneath...

...you're going to wish you were DEAD.

Furious, Itachi slammed the monstrous excuse of a children's storybook and threw it angrily across the room where it hit the wall and cluttered to the floorboards. The cat meowed and leaped to all fours, looking in that direction before hissing and arching its back as if the object were the real monster within those pages.

His niece was now in his lap, crying and curling into him. He decided to pick something else from her books, but it only did so much to calm her down.

That night, he allowed her to sleep with him, the cat curled in between them, but Itachi struggled to sleep as his thoughts were plagued by the book which remained across the room and on the floor. He thought about getting rid of it - but the question was HOW.

Did anyone have shivers, too, or just me? :S At least for those of you who haven't seen the movie, be warned when you go to Netflix or find it elsewhere.

Review please. (wipes sweating forehead with tissue)