Disclaimer: The series of Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I only own the plot of this piece of the fiction and my own original characters.


Impermanence (無常)


Transient Cherry Blossoms


"Do you know why I named you after cherry blossoms?"

"Because of my hair," he snapped, giving her a look.

She saw his opinion of her lowering in a sharp glare. She knew this because it was an expression often leveled upon his father, a man fond of littering his speech with stupid puns more so than common sense.

She fought a scowl.

How he managed to become a chūnin, she would never understand.

Her thoughts quickly shifted at a scoff.

"Are you finished yet?"

The prickle of irritation was momentarily forgotten by swelling affection and niggling worry.

The rational side of her disapproved of his audacious disrespect. Her son wouldn't make it far in the world with no regard for others—there were many that would take offense simply at the haughty way he held himself.

But, while she did her best to provide structure and discipline, the foolish part of her thought his state of perpetual disdain was adorable.

She loved the way his little snout wrinkled as his eyebrows drew together, and she treasured how his mouth curled into a snarl much too cute to be intimidating. She tried to cling for as long as she can to the precious visage, but his abrasive words never let her savor it for long.

How bittersweet.

"No, I wasn't finished," the woman replied pointedly. "It was actually for an entirely different reason."

"Such as?"

"It was because we thought you were going to be a girl."

". . . What?"

Had she been any less observant, she would have missed how his fingertips hesitated in turning a page of his book, or she would have overlooked the muscles of his shoulders and neck tensing.

The fleeting crack in his impassive countenance comforted her immensely; there was indeed something that was able to expose an albeit momentary weakness in him.

She did little in hiding the mischievous smirk that wormed onto her features.

"They were ninety-nine percent sure you would be a girl," she hummed lightly, rubbing a mole on his ear lobe. "But, the day you were born, we were all surprised when a cute little boy came out instead."

"The dresses in the storage room were mine. I should've known," he sighed, moving from her touch.

Laughter bubbled out of her at the mention.

"We were going to name you Ajisai for being our pride and joy, but I ended up blurting out Sakura when they asked."

He looked unimpressed. Bored.

He wanted her to be quiet, she knew.

But she couldn't.

"There was a time of being so certain of everything, but it vanished the moment you were born. And I remembered that my mother would always tell me that life was inconstant. Transient."

He lifted a brow, head cocking to the side.

"The awareness of that brevity is what cherry blossoms are said to represent. This is what you were named for, Sakura."

He stared at her face, searching for something. But his hunt must have been unfruitful, for he rolled his eyes in what could only be annoyance before dropping his attention back to the manga clutched in his hands.

He probably thought everything she'd told him was little more than superstitious, philosophical mumbo jumbo.

She could only give a tiny smile in return, unable to find it in herself to be angry.

Because she thought much the same when she was younger.

Mebuki hoped he'd keep her words in mind, though.


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A/N: First off, I'd like to deeply apologize to those reading and waiting for my other two series. The truth of the matter is that both of them are undergoing massive reconstruction due to a combination of writers' block, procrastination and constantly shifting interests.

In the meantime, this story is here—but it is meant to challenge me as a writer more so than anything else. I do want it to be enjoyable, but the main four things I am aiming to accomplish with this story is: a) veering from canon as early as possible; b) developing the characters over the course of the story; c) subverting some of the clichés of Naruto SI stories; and d) actually finishing the damn thing.

I may or may not accomplish any of those. But I will definitely try!

Chapter Word Count: 577

Story Word Count: 577

EDIT: 10/31/2017 – Structural editing. Addition of information.