Thanks to everyone who reviewed my other story! Now, as promised, my new story! Dedicated to my readers! I couldn't do it without you guys!


"Stop! Thief!"shouted a tall, pale and dark woman. Uchiha Mikoto regretted choosing to wear a skirt to day. Slit or no slit, it restricted her movements. Why didn't she wear a trouser suit? Just because there was a business conference she had to attend doesn't mean she had to wear a skirt. These thoughts passed through her mind in a fraction of a second as her feet pounded on the pavement, hurrying after the mug that had dared to steal her purse.

Luckily, her shout attracted the attention of a teenage girl. Said girl glanced back and saw the guy, a few years older than her, clutching a bright blue handbag and running for his life. He was stupid enough to steal from an Uchiha but not enough to underestimate their speed. The girl reacted instantly, employing an age-old and severely revered method of pwning bad guys: she stuck out her foot and tripped him up. The bag flew a graceful arc in the air and landed neatly in the hands of the now still Mikoto. Obviously, it did not bow, or indeed do anything to acknowledge the applause it received after performing this stunt of extraordinary reflex, cunning and grace. Then again, perhaps the applause was not directed at it.

"Thank you," smiled Mikoto. The girl smiled back, turned and walked away. She seemed familiar...

XXX

Sakura lay belly-down on her bed, munching Pocky while reading manga. Honestly. The way these kids were acting, you'd think they were eighteen or something. After what Natsume did to Mikan, she was pretty sure that he was the most sick-minded ten-year old. Ever. Mitte!(Look!) Ruka-pyon's blushing! AWWW!

Ahem. Back to the story.

No! I wanna talk more about the manga she's reading!

Shut up!

You shut up.

TM's cortex here. Please ignore the-ah-scuffle between TM's right brain and left brain, who have had to much blood sugar, and continue reading the story. (Distant shouts of the two sides of my brain into the background. WTF?)

Sakura glanced up from her wall clock and sighed. Dad should have been home by now. Where was he?

XXX

Haruno Hayato (Haya-falcon, to-person) sat in the cafe across of a very pretty woman. He was smiling.

"You seem very determined to have both my daughters, Mikoto-san. I believe Sumire now works in your school clinic?" he asked.

"Indded.You have very talented daughters, Hayato-san. Sumire has told us all about your Sakura's first ever figure-skating competition. I believe she won a silver medal at the age of nine?" smiled Mikoto.

Hayato chuckled, thinking fondly of his younger daughter, "I think she did it on purpose. She could have easily won the gold medal, but she seems to have had a fetish for silver."

XXX

Sakura hastily reached for the handkerchief on her bedside table and covered her nose and mouth. Out came a muffled "ACHOO!"

XXX

"About this scholarship, I will not have to pay anything? At all?" inquired Hayato.

"No, nothing. Uchiha Enterprise will accommodate everything needed for the thorough education of its scouted students. Sakura will receive the best education she can get, free use of the Konoha High ice rink for training at any time she likes as long as within reason, any other facility she might need, objects such as music CD's and players to help her train, and, of course, the added bonus of seeing her elder sister." Mikoto reassured him.

"Good, good. More money to go into their luxuries and comfort," murmured Hayato.

XXX

The moment her keen musician's ears heard the door open, she bounded off the bed and ran out her room.

"Dad!" Sakura squealed happily, leaping gracefully and throwing her arms around her father's neck not so gracefully.

"Hello, my little yoosei," smiled the man, using hs special pet name for her. Sakura and her sister. Yoosei and tenshi. Fairy and angel.

Sakura relinguished her hold on him and stepped back, observing her father. Thirty-nine, a tall, fit, red-haired and ridiculously young-looking business man who was never in the same town for more than a month, she and her sister loved him so much. He raised them on his own after their mother died in giving birth to Sakura. She knew that he would do anything for them, they were his very raison d'etre.

"Come, Sakura, we need to talk," he said softly, leading the way to the living room.

When they had both sat down Hayato began to speak about the scholarship.

"You'll start at the end of summer holidays. Konoha is my hometown, so we have a house there. You'll live with Sumire, she'll take care of you. I've arranged everything already," he concluded, feeling nervous at the mounting mutiny in her face. It might be harder to persuade her than he thought.

"Why should I go?" she queried calmly. Hayato could see her straining to keep her temper in check.

"Because it's the best for all of us," answered Hayato. "I travel a lot, Sakura, and every time you go to a new school, you have to go through the difficulty of making new friends all over again. A girl your age needs to settle down somewhere and finish her education, not to go around the world, losing friends as quickly as she makes them. A friend of a lifetime is worth a lifetime of friends. Besides, your sister needs you."

"And if I don't want to go?"

"Sakura, please understand," pleaded her father. "I'll miss you, you know I will, but this is what's best. You have to take this chance to become everything you can be."

Sakura saw her father's eyes and her expression softened. All traces of the rebellious lines on her face faded. Her eyes, instead of the orbs of ice that they were only moments ago, were now merely pools of sadness and regret.

"Alright. I'll go."


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