Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto, and I do not claim rights to it, nor am I making any money off of writing this fanfic.

A/N: This is going to be a series of oneshots, not actually a "fic." Obviously, it's all going to be related to Sakura, but I don't really see an end to it, just some ideas I might explore along a sort of timeline. I took the liberty of making up the names of Sakura's parents, btw.

Thanks goes to Ducky for thinking up the title for this chapter. XD

Pyrite: To Keep the Goal in Sight

She had been watching the latest exploits of the Kamanagi family, another lurid soap opera. In soap operas, the characters' lives were complex, but you knew that they'd have a happy ending. Even if Kamanagi Akiko got pregnant after a drunk one night stand, and ended up having to marry the badboy who was the father of her child, you knew she'd fall in love with him, and he'd reform himself and become a good, dependable working husband. Even if he once robbed a store, and got into constant fights, he'd change himself, for her.

They were always loved, in soap operas. No matter how many sides the romantic entanglements had, in the end they had a happy ending: they were loved.

She didn't remember falling asleep, but Sakura's voice woke her.

"Mom!! Moom!!" Sakura said, tugging on Chieko's sleeve. She was lying down on the sofa, her eyes closed, and her head covered in rollers. Snorting as she abruptly woke, Chieko looked about her to see what happened and noticed her anxious pink-headed daughter next to her.

"Yes, sweetie?" Chieko said wearily, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. Now that Sakura was home, Chieko had to give her some food, and she still had ironing to do, and she had forgotten to get some fresh vegetables for dinner. She had been planning to make green beans and chicken, but it looked like the grocery store might not have any more beans of the kind she liked, considering how long she overslept…

"—and Linda was being really mean, and pulled my hair, but Ino stopped her and told her she was as ugly as a frog--"

The Yamanaka were decent people, and Chieko had no qualms about letting their daughter play with Sakura, especially since she knew that Sakura was, in a way, being protected by her. Still, she desperately hoped that Sakura wouldn't start wearing those strange bandages, or become obsessed like boys like she knew Ino was.

She didn't want her daughter to make the same mistakes she did, Chieko thought, looking at Sakura. She had potential for being very beautiful later on, but Chieko knew that beauty could lure the wrong men. She knew, because she had been the same.

"Mom!?" Chieko tensed, startled out of her reverie. "Yes?"

"Can we have udon for dinner today?" Sakura asked, her eyes bright with hope.

I don't want to see that light go away

"Of course," Chieko said, rising, her mind racing on whether she could still get to the grocer in time to get some udon ready before Jin came, and if she had put the placemats in the laundry.

"Come on, did you wash your hands yet?" she said, smiling down at Sakura, pushing her gently in the direction of the bathroom.

XXX

For her daughter's future, Chieko decided to cut the cable so she could give her piano lessons. It had taken a long time to convince her husband, since he was attached to sports channels more than she was to her soap operas. Or maybe he didn't consider piano lessons that big of a deal, but eventually Chieko nagged and wore him down.

"Fine, fine!"

"It's just-"

"Goddamn it, shut-up! I'll call the cable provider tomorrow, okay?! Are you happy, now?"

She smiled weakly in return, looking at his stormy face. It was a hard-won victory, and she knew it had only made things even tenser between them, since Jin hated being pushed around by his wife, even if it was only for this one thing. Their love had long dried away, and she was finding it difficult to let him slip into the bed beside her, nowadays.

It was for her daughter, she remembered, and steeled herself.

The goal, though Chieko never told Jin, was to get Sakura good enough at piano so that she'd have a chance at Konoha Academy for Talented Students. It was a famous, selective school not too far from their neighborhood, and she remembered wanting to go there when she was young. The problem was, to be considered for Konoha, you had to have a talent; you had to be the best at what you did.

Chieko didn't have a talent—the most she ever had was a gift for words, but it was a small one. Though she sent an application, she never heard from them. It was a old, and slightly bitter wound. So she wanted her daughter to go there, partly to prove that she wasn't worthless, that "ha, I raised this beautiful amazing girl who is so much like me, who is the furthest thing from a fool there is, and she will have the choices I never had."

So Sakura was entrusted for two hours every Sunday to a wizened old woman, who lived ten blocks away and kept framed newspaper clippings on the walls next to her baby grand. Chieko's daughter always emerged chastised, subdued by her teacher's caustic reprimanding over her form, over the tiny amount of time she practiced, over the state of her lamentable sight-reading…

It was good for her, Chieko thought, trying not to dwell on how she was forced to carefully balance the family's finances to pay for the lessons.

It was worth it, Chieko reminded herself, trying to keep the goal in sight even as her daughter raged against her guidance.