One Friday afternoon Sachi Uchiha arrived home from school. "Hey, we need to talk." Sasuke began after she had come through the front door while folding his arms and looking at her seriously.
"I don't really think that there's anything to talk about." She told him while avoiding eye contact with him.
"Well it just so happens that I do." He began. "When were you planning on telling me then you failed your math test and you have detention this afternoon for talking back to your teacher?" he questioned her.
"When you found out." Sachi mumbled underneath her breath.
"Honestly Sachi, I don't know what's gotten into you lately! You've been avoiding your homework, cutting class, and mouthing off. What happened to my sweet baby girl?" he wondered.
"Don't you get it!?" she shouted back at him while shaking her head and starting to back away from him. "I am not your baby girl! I don't have any parents and I'm also not doing that stupid Mother's Day assignment!" she hollered before she turned around and hurried back into her bedroom and slammed the door behind her.
"Oh boy." Sakura began while glancing over at her husband. "That didn't go well at all did it?" she questioned as Sasuke heaved a sad sigh and hung his head.
"So that's what this is all about." He began. "She's upset because this will be her first year without her mother." He realized before letting out another sigh.
"I know, and that's why you need to go talk to her." Sakura told him.
"Yeah, you're right. I'm going to go talk to her." He told her before he turned around and started walking down the hallway. "Keiko." He began as he knocked on the door. "It's Uncle Sasuke, can I come in?" he questioned her and waited a few moments for a response and when he didn't receive any he slowly turned the doorknob and opened her door.
She was rolled over onto her side with her face facing the wall and she heaved a deep and heavy sad sigh. Sasuke sighed as well while he looked at her and he wasn't quite sure what he should do at that moment. So he shut the door again and dug his cellphone out of his pocket and dialed Keiko's number.
"Hello?" a small voice questioned on the other end of the line with uncertainty as Sasuke smiled.
"Hey." He replied.
"Oh hello Oni-san." She said happily.
"Hey I was just wondering if I could get some advice from you." He said.
"Sure, what's up?" she wondered.
"Well as you already know Mother's Day is this weekend." He began.
"I know and I can't wait to spend some time with Mommy, we're going on a hike together." She told him as Sasuke grinned.
"Hn. That sounds fun." He began. "But it's your cousin Sachi that I'm really worried about." He told her.
"Really? What's wrong?" she wondered.
"Well this is going to be her first year without her mother." He explained.
"Oh yeah, right, I forgot." She told him. "Poor girl." She added before heaving a light sad sigh. "I know just how she feels. I felt exactly the same way after my daddy died." She said.
"I know and that's the reason that I was calling because I figured that you would be able to help her." He explained. "How did you handle your first Father's Day without him?" he wondered.
"Well, it wasn't easy, but I told my mommy all about the fun things that we used to do together and then we did exactly the same things and it really helped me not to miss him so much." She told him as Sasuke grinned.
"Really? That sounds like a great idea. Thanks for telling me, I'll go ahead and talk to her right now and ask her about it." He told her.
"I'm glad that I was able to help and I sure hope that everything works out." She told him.
"Yeah,.. me too." He told her before he heaved another sad sigh and then hung up. After that he opened the door again and walked into Sachi's bedroom. "Sachi, can I please talk to you for a minute?" he asked her as he sat down on her bed.
"Sure, it's your house." She replied.
"Yeah but Sachi now this is your house too, and believe me I know how much you miss your mother,.. but your aunt Sakura and I love you like crazy." He told her while he glanced down at her and soothingly rubbed her back.
"I know, and I love you guys too but it just isn't the same without my mom." She told him sadly with a sniff but that's when Sasuke just simply smiled down at her. "Do you know who I was just on the phone with?" he wondered as she sniffed again and rubbed her eyes before looking back up at him.
"No. Who?" she questioned him back.
"Your cousin Keiko and she gave me some great advice on how we can handle this problem." He told her with a grin.
"Really? How?" she wondered.
"Well can you remember some of your favorite things that you used to do with your mother?" he asked her while continuing to smile warmly at her as he gently ran his fingers through her hair.
"Yeah, of course. She only died a few months ago." She told him.
"Well see? There's your answer. Maybe you can tell me all about what you and your mother used to do together and we can do some of the same things that you liked to do." He told her. "So,.. can you think of anything?" he wondered.
"Well,.. we did used to bake chocolate chip cookies together." She suggested with a sly grin.
"Hn." Sasuke began while slyly grinning back at her. "Well,.. I'm not much of a baker but I suppose that I can always give it a try." He told her before he bent over and planted a kiss on her cheek.
…
Later on Sasuke, Sakura, and Sachi decided to call Keiko over to help them with their baking. "Well girls, how much longer is it to go?" Sasuke wondered.
"About ten more minutes." Keiko replied.
"Well, while we're waiting for the cookies to be finished we can always play beauty shop." Sachi suggested with a grin.
"Okay, that sounds like fun." Keiko replied with a grin as Sasuke heaved a sigh.
"Alright, I can do both of your hairstyles and makeup, but_" he began as Sachi giggled and quickly interjected.
"I know Uncle Sasuke don't worry, neither one of us will do yours, I promise." She reassured him with another giggle as Sasuke let out a sigh of relief.
"That's all I ask." He replied and all three of them sat down to play beauty shop. He curled Sachi's hair and cut Keiko's to where it was shoulder length. Then he painted Sachi's fingernails red and Keiko's pink to match their hairstyles as well as giving them the same colored lipstick and eyeshadow. When the timer went off Sasuke got the cookies out of the oven and then they all sat down at the dining room table to share them.
…..
The school bell rang as Keiko, Sachi, and Kizashi all walked into the classroom together. Konohamaru and Saki were already sitting down at their desks.
"Alright everybody, I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend and I can't wait to hear all of your reports!" Iruka exclaimed excitedly.
"Man, I can't believe that we had homework on the weekend." Konohamaru said with a groan.
"I didn't!" Kizashi began with a proud grin. "I don't even have a mother." He said.
"That's no excuse neither do I or Sachi. I wrote about what I remembered about her." Saki said.
"She died when I was only three years old and I don't even have anymore memories about her since that was several years ago." Kizashi told her.
"So then why didn't you just ask your grandparents or your father?" Keiko wondered.
"Don't worry about it Keiko, it's his own fault if he fails." Sachi told her.
"I know, so what did you write about Sachi?" she wondered but Sachi just simply grinned at her.
"You'll see, it's a surprise." She told her as she waited her turn for the rest of her class since she already knew that she would be last. When Keiko's name was called she stood up and went up to face the front of the class and started reading from her paper.
"Even though I haven't known my mommy for a very long time I love her very much as well as my big sister Sakura. I love when we play beauty shop and go to the park together, and this weekend my mommy and I went on a hike. It was just the two of us because since Sakura moved out and married Sasuke she doesn't spend that much time with us anymore, but my mommy and I had a great time eating a picnic afterwards and then I got to play fetch with Titiana." She read and everybody clapped for her when she had finished reading.
"Thank you." She replied before she went to go sit down and Iruka called Konohamaru's name.
"Uh,.. I can't read." He told him as Iruka heaved a light sigh and there were a few giggles in the back of the classroom.
"Then how were you able to do your report?" he wondered before he narrowed his eyebrows and glared at the children that were laughing.
"My mother typed it up for me after I told her what I wanted to say." Konohamaru explained.
"Fine, just give it to me and I'll read it for you." Iruka instructed and then Konohamaru handed it over to him and his eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets when he glanced down at the paper.
"What?" he wondered.
"Umm,.. Konohamaru,.. this is a bit inappropriate." He began. "I didn't need your mother's pregnancy and your whole life story, I just wanted a general idea of what you like to do with your mom." He told him.
"Oh,.. well in that case we like to do pretty much everything together. You know she tucks me in at night, tells me stories, plays games with me and checks my closet every night for monsters, werewolves, and aliens." He told him.
"Umm,.. werewolves and aliens?" he questioned.
"Yeah, but that's only on their poker night." Konohamaru replied as more tiny giggles were heard from the back of the room.
"Umm,.. yeah,.. I really don't want to know." He said.
"Then why did you ask me?" Konohamaru wondered.
"I honestly have no idea." Iruka replied as he glanced down at his list. "So next we have,.." he began.
"And they call me an idiot." Konohamaru muttered underneath his breath.
"Kizashi what about you?" Iruka questioned him.
"He didn't do it." Saki replied.
"Oh really?" Iruka began while shaking his head at him. "Your grandparents and your father aren't going to be happy about this Kizashi. Especially your father since he's a sensei here. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to give you a zero." He told him while he marked it on his clipboard.
"What do I get?" Konohamaru wondered.
"Uh,.. I'll be nice and give you a B for trying." Iruka replied.
"Really? I'm not so sure that's a good idea because my mom's allergic and I'm pretty sure that she would prefer to have a butterfly instead." Konohamaru told him as Iruka just simply rolled his eyes.
"No you idiot that's your letter grade." Keiko told him.
"Oh yeah,.. right,.. I knew that." He replied with a nod but started to blush so Keiko could tell that he was lying.
After Saki had her turn it was finally time for Sachi to go up in front of the class and read her paper. "Well,.. I knew that this Mother's Day was going to be rather difficult for me since this would be the first year without my mom." She began. "But actually it turned out pretty great because this year has also been my first year that I have been living with my uncle Sasuke and aunt Sakura. I still really miss my mother very much and think of her all the time. I still remember what she sounded like and the smell of her favorite perfume." She read while feeling her eyes starting to tear up.
"But as time goes by it's getting harder and harder for me to remember those things, but I do know that she loved me." she sobbed while everybody continued listening to her. "For it was hers and my father's dream and final wish for me to meet my aunt and uncle and that's why I was given the name of Sachi because like my cousin Keiko's name, it basically means lucky and fortunate and that's what I feel like I am. For even though it's only been a year of living with them, for as long as I can remember Uncle Sasuke and Aunt Sakura have always been there for me.
Uncle Sasuke has even gone as far as do my hair and makeup and play dolls with me even though he really doesn't want to because he knows that it really makes me happy. Aunt Sakura reads to me every night and she helped heal me when I first came to the hidden leaf village with broken bones, bruises, and burns caused by my numerous so called foster family members. She also makes me chicken noodle soup when I'm sick and Uncle Sasuke sings softly to me to help me feel better.
Both of them are always there to pick me up and give me a hug whenever I need it from either being hurt physically or emotionally, and they taught me how something or somebody never truly dies as long as somebody's around to remember them. I know how much they love me and I know how much I love them which is probably as much as my parents did. And since I was their last gift from them, that's why I do believe that Mother's Day really was about my mom after all and I'm really proud to be their baby girl." She read as everybody stood up and clapped for her.
Later on that afternoon Sachi received an A+ on her paper and Sakura hung it up on the refrigerator. "Well that really is a paper to be proud of." She told her niece with a grin as Sasuke smiled and then crouched down in front of her before poking her in the forehead.
"Yep, but I'm prouder of the person who wrote it. I love you baby girl." He told her with a grin as she smiled back at him.
"I love you too Uncle Sasuke." She told him before she threw her arms around him and embraced him tightly.