Written for Day 18 of Sakura Month: Milk & Cookies
"I just can't believe that," Sakura bit off a curse, "would actually think that I-"
Cutting herself off, she glanced sideways at the sound of the door closing and little feet tromping closer. Ino hummed over her coffee, then put it down and looked as well.
"Mom, can we have some milk and cookies?" Inojin asked with a sweet smile.
Sakura raised an eyebrow at him and glanced at Izumi. She smiled winningly, brushing her dark hair out of her face.
"Mm, what did Uncle Chouji feed you this morning?" Ino asked, giving her son an unimpressed look.
"Nothing bad!" Inojin promised instantly.
Ino tapped a fingertip on her saucer. A moment later she was eliciting a more detailed answer from her son without apparent effort. Sakura wondered with amusement if T&I had helped Ino more in the raising of her son, or if parenting her son - who took so very much after her - had helped more with her T&I duties.
"Mama?" Izumi asked, and Sakura reached out, tugging a leaf out of her daughter's hair.
"If Auntie Ino says it's okay, you may have two cookies and a glass of milk." Sakura said firmly. "If not we will have a snack when we go home. Before we need to make dinner."
"I'll help!" Izumi promised, and Sakura smiled at her, stroking her hair.
"I know, dear." Sakura said fondly. "Thank you."
"Papa gets home today, right?" Izumi asked tentatively.
Sakura nodded. "Assuming everything is still on schedule; the message he sent yesterday said he would be home before dinner time today." she confirmed. "Daddy would have told us if there was more news today, so I imagine we'll see Papa soon."
Across the table, Ino and her son were apparently coming to some sort of agreement.
Sakura met Ino's eyes with a curious hum, and Ino waved a hand. "Go on." she allowed, directed to the children. "And don't make a mess getting to them." She arched a brow and Sakura nodded that she, too, had given permission.
"Uncle Chouji?" Sakura prompted with an amused smile as the children ran off towards the kitchen, Inojin dragging Izumi along by the hand as he chattered to her.
Ino huffed, rolling her eyes and picking up her cup again. "He spoils Inojin horribly with whatever he likes to eat," she said with exasperation, "and of course it's all delicious, have you ever known an Akimichi who couldn't cook?"
Sakura hid her smile behind her coffee but shook her head.
"Inojin also doesn't need to eat as much as any of Chouji's brood - or the rest of them that always wind up at his table." Ino said, putting the cup down with a harsh clink, without taking a sip. "So I'm forever fighting Inojin over it just to keep him healthy."
Chouji was a very hands-on Clan Head, Sakura knew, and she suspected he took a good deal of enjoyment from feeding all of his Clan's children at his table.
"If he's inherited your metabolism I'm sure he'll be fine." Sakura said, shrugging when Ino shot her a look. "With a bit of control."
"Hmph." Ino replied, glaring in the direction of the kitchen. "Yours doesn't seem to argue so much over treats." she said leadingly, returning her gaze to Sakura.
"Oi." Sakura leaned forwards on her elbows and rubbed her brow. "Nutrition is a constant battle in our house." she said tiredly, shaking her head. "Naruto would still live on nothing but ramen if he had the choice, and fills in with junk food between, and I honestly wonder if Sasuke even cares what he eats so long as it has the requisite calories and basic nutrients to sustain him, most of the time. So feeding the kids. . ."
Ino raised an eyebrow, sipping from her coffee cup.
"I don't mind doing the cooking - I really don't mind doing the cooking given the alternative options, though both of them have volunteered in the past." Sakura shuddered at the memory of the first . . . overambitious, too-complicated mess Naruto had cooked, or the fire Sasuke had started, or what were too often utterly bland - or overseasoned, or overcooked, or. . . She sighed. "They are . . . not good at it." she said dryly.
"So I gather." Ino said, laughing at her. "How do you manage it with the hospital all the time? And. . ." She tilted her head in the direction of the kitchen, where they could hear the occasional clink or giggle from their children.
Ino's only, and Sakura's eldest. Her home was perhaps a little more chaotic than her best friend's. More than perhaps. For multiple reasons. She snorted.
"I do the cooking, when we eat at home," Sakura shrugged, "although we probably bring food home a little more often than we should. I'd really rather find the time for it myself - or order in - than trust either of them to produce consumable food, at this point."
Ino laughed, bending over the table. "Fair enough. How do you keep up with it and the kids and everything else, though? You work longer hours than I do most of the time. And I don't cook often." she admitted. Sakura eyed her. "I cook when I feel like it, or a few things I do particularly well at when we want them, but Sai enjoys cooking himself, and he's good at it as well." She smiled. "He's good at most things if he sets his mind to it." she added smugly, smiling like a cat with a whole dish of cream.
Sakura snorted in amusement at her best friend. "Ah, well." She tapped her fingertips against the side of her cup. "I do all the cooking, but . . . not much else at home other than keeping up all of our mission medkits? The older two kids help out when they can, of course," she gestured illustratively towards the kitchen, "Naruto cleans and is usually the one who ferries the kids around to school or out for someone else to look after, Sasuke does almost all the shopping and he takes care of the laundry - including any mending, thankfully."
Ino's eyebrows rose and Sakura shrugged. "It works for us." she said, content with the balance her household had settled into - eventually. It had not come without some extended upheaval between all three of them, and some periods when both their lives and their home had been a bit of a disaster.
"You know, none of that arrangement are things I would have guessed at when we were younger." Ino said, lips quirking. "Then again, I never would have imagined the three of you at all. . ."
"I don't think anyone would have." Sakura agreed, amused. But, much like their household balance . . . it worked for them. She hummed contentedly into her coffee as she met her best friend's eyes.
Thinking about the relationship, household, and parenting balance the Team 7 OT3 might have was interesting.