DATE REVISED: 07/01/2016

Dear my fellow readers-

I'm sorry for revising this so late. Give me a chance please ;-;

*Word*= Italic (Thoughts/Emphasis)

**Word**= Bold (Inner Sakura/Emphasis)

-O-

Everything was fine.

Except it wasn't.

Sakura took a deep breath, and steadied herself. *Calm yourself, Sakura. CALM YOUR FREAKING SELF, OKAY? Even if there's someone who CLEARLY SHOULD BE PUNCHED BECAUSE SHE'S MOVING SO FREAKING SLOWLY, calm yourself.*

"Hello? Ma'am?" Sakura poked the woman who was standing in front of her in the grocery line, "There's, uh, no one in front of you now! Could you- ya know, move? Faster? A little bit?"

The woman turned, a dark hood shielding her face, her brown hair probably covering most of what was in her line of sight. Sakura was still suspicious as to why this woman was wearing that kind of clothing in the summer- but hey, everyone had their own preferences.

A gasp. Sakura tilted her head, confused, but before she could ask the woman what exactly was intimidating about herself- she had pink hair, for goodness sakes- and that there was no need to be afraid or anything, the woman seemed to have composed herself.

"Young'uns these days..." The woman said, in a low and gravelly voice, and turned back, very slowly. She then walked unhurriedly to the front of the line.

Rude. Sakura fumed, picking up the store basket which had her groceries in it. Couldn't she just walk faster? Sakura was on a mission here, geez.

-x-

Sakura trudged to the small house resting nearby the academy, hands red and swollen from the weight of the grocery bags constantly being shifted from one hand to the next.

This was not good.

She had been trying not to get callouses by moisturising her hands whenever she could, but being a ninja meant that no matter how hard you tried, your hands were always going to be rough and full of callouses.

Even if 'being a ninja' only meant doing D-ranked missions.

Walking to the door of the house, she knocked on the door. "I'm back! Let me in, please!"

Sakura waited.

And waited.

"Hello? Anyone in there?"

Then she realised that she had forgotten that her teammates were probably still out helping the old woman buy her clothes. Her teammates... had a very different sense of style.

Sakura groaned. This could take a while.

-x-

"You don't know what you're talking about! This... this dress. How could it possibly look 'pretty' to you? Disgusting flowery patterns..."

"Tch. Says the guy with the orange jacket that people can see from a mile away."

"Huh? Did the emo with the duck-butt hair say something?"

"My wonderful students, I'm sure you're not arguing, right? After all, we're helping out this wonderful lady right here, and you guys don't want to upset her at all. Am I correct?"

"Hmph, whatever."

"..."

-x-

The woman brought her hood down, brushing her hair away from her eyes. It had been a close call, when she had almost given herself away in the store. How could she have aimed so far away from her target age?

She would have to wait until this Sakura was old enough. Until then, she would be watching her.

-x-

Blood-red eyes gleamed, tomoe spinning.

-O-

(lel Kakashi was probably very ooc in this. i forgot how to write kakashi seeing as i haven't watched/read naruto for a long time now. please correct me if it is indeed very ooc)

Update schedule is not set, (this is one big mess and i'm trying to fix it.) however, I will update at least a chapter every three months.

R/R please, and criticism is very much appreciated ;w;