Chapter 2: Pictures

Akina hummed gently as she washed the windows. The youngest Haruno was currently in the attic, cleaning it out for her mom. She knew her mom cleaned everything else BUT here. Chuckling slightly, she turned up the music, then went back to the windows. An hour later, everything was clean and sparkling. Settling herself on a chair she had brought up here, Akina decided to go through the boxes. She was curious as to her mothers past because of how rarely she spoke of it.

When she opened the first box, she was surprised to see a shirt. It was unfamiliar to her. It was midnight blue, with a red and white fan etched on the back. 'I wonder who's this was...' She wondered. She then rummaged around and found a sketchbook. She flipped it open, and saw a man. He was standing in a fighting stance. It was obvious that her mother used to have feelings for him, because as she looked through the sketches, he was on every page. 'Whoever he was, he was handsome.' Akina thought to herself. When she looked through the boxes, she found more of the shirts with the red-and-white fans. The young girl decided to keep a shirt, because they must be sentimental to her mom. Akina then ventured downstairs, hugging the shirt to her and she caught it's smell. She was a smart girl, and realized that the man in her mom's sketches and this shirt belonged to each other. So the man smelled nice. Akina tucked his scent away into the back of her mind for later. She then put it in an empty drawer in her room.

"Akina-chan!" Yelled a male voice, and the dark-haired girl turned at the sound of her name.

"In here, Uncle Naruto!" She yelled.

"In here where?" He shouted back. She giggled.

"My room!" Akina called. Her uncle walked into her room and smiled in relief.

"Good, I woke up and didn't know where you were." He told her.

"Oh, I was in the attic." Naruto froze, his eyes wide. 'Oh no! That's where Sakura hides all of the team's things!' He thought frantically.

"W-what were you doing up there?" He inquired, trying his hardest to keep the panic from his voice. His niece shrugged.

"Cleaning." She told him simply.

"Cleaning what?" He asked, feeling his throat tighten. 'Oh Kami, please don't let her have gone through those boxes...' He thought to himself.

"Oh, the windows, the floor. Mom never cleans there, so I thought I'd help her out and clean it myself. I didn't touch the boxes, though. They're probably mom's stuff from our last apartment, like breakable china and all that expensive stuff.'' Her nose wrinkled.

"I knew that I'd probably wind up breaking them, so I didn't even open them. I'll let mom take of those when we're 'officially' settled in." With those words, Akina grinned at her uncle. He let out a sigh of relief. 'Good, so she didn't touch the boxes, and nor will she ever.' Akina pretended to be confused at the man's actions. She tilted her head. The loud-mouthed blond froze at this, having just realized what he did. He laughed nervously, running a hand through his hair.

"So, Akina-chan, do you want a grilled cheese sandwich?" He asked, trying to distract his niece. It worked. She squealed and ran towards the kitchen. Naruto smiled in victory. He had successfully changed the subject.

"Hurry up, Uncle Naruto!" Akina called.

"Alright, Akina-chan, hold on!"He grumbled playfully as he strolled into the kitchen. The dark-haired girl threw him a disgruntled look, seated at the table.

"It was your idea, Mr.Smarty-Pants." She reminded him. Naruto smiled and rumpled her hair affectionately. Said girl squealed angrily. Naruto made Akina her grilled cheese sandwich, and they sat together at the table, her munching happily on her sandwich, him eating some ramen.

Finally, Akina drained her cup of milk, and turned to stare seriously at her uncle. Sensing her gaze, he looked at her, confusion written all over the 20 year olds face.

"What's the matter, Akina-chan?" The little girl sighed, fidgeting slightly.

"U-Uncle Naruto, how come I don't have a daddy...like everyone else?" Time seemed to move in slow motion for the man. 'You should've known a time would come when she would ask that question.' His inner self chidded him lightly. What was he to tell her? That her father was a power-seeking maniac? That he had killed thousands of people to obtain that said power? That he was a cold-hearted bastard who didn't care about her or her mother? No. That would only serve to break her little heart. If there was one thing he hated, Uzumaki Naruto hated seeing Akina's tears. They hurt him the same way Sakura's did. Naruto let out a long breath.

"Your father is off fighting a war." He finally told her. He did not include that this war was an internal struggle. Akina's eyes widened in that way that only children could.

"He is? Oh man, that is so cool!" Naruto felt his heart tear with guilt. His niece obviously had the wrong impression about her father, but who was he to take away her happiness.

"Akina..." He said carefully, leaving out the honorific to let her know he was serious. "What brought about this question?" He inquired. The little girl frowned and shrugged. She averted her gaze to the wall.

"I saw a little girl I knew and her dad walking around the park earlier today. They were holding hands, and they seemed so happy together." She turned to look at Naruto. He saw the pain hidden in those dark eyes, and it pained him.

"I think of you, and Uncle Kakashi, as my surrogate fathers. But it's not the same, you know?" Her voice had turned bitter, and there was a wistful smile on her face. Oh, Naruto knew ALL too well how that feeling felt. It had been the same one he had felt with Iruka-sensei. It was like, they were closest thing to a father they had, just not quite. It still hurt all the same. He got up, and kneeled in front of his neice.

"Yes, Akina-chan, I do understand." He gently wrapped his arms around the little girl.

"I know how badly it hurts, I know no one will ever take your daddy's place. He loves you very much, you know. I'm sure he would be proud of you." Lie after lie. When would they stop. Akina hugged him tightly, and Naruto felt his chest constrict painfully. There was a wetness on his shoulder that hadn't been there five minutes ago.

"Thank you, Uncle Naruto." Came Akina's muffled voice. Naruto closed his eyes tightly. He was close to crying himself, on how ashamed he was of himself. Not for the first time, the blond cursed the day Uchiha Sasuke walked into their lives.

"Mommy..." Akina dragged out slyly. Her pink-haired mother turned to face her daughter warily. She was up to something...

"Are you going out on a DATE, mom?" The obsidian-eyed girl teased her mother.

"Yes." Sakura said easily, and Akina's eyes widened. Her mom had answered without a fight.

"Now, Akina, could you go grab my necklace? It's on my desk in my room." The dark-haired girl nodded, and rushed into her mother's room. As she was looking for the object her mom asked her for, she spotted a picture. Curiously, the six year-old picked it up. In it, her mom was REALLY young. Perhaps only 12. There in the pic was her Uncle Naruto and Uncle Kakashi, but a man she didn't recognize. Akina clutched the picture, found the necklace, and wandered back to her mom.

"I got your necklace." She said quietly, handing it to her mom. Her mom took it from her gratefully, and slipped it around her neck. Akina swallowed. She knew that the question she was about to ask would have a bad impact on her mom.

"Uh, mom?" She asked slowly. Her tongue suddenly felt too big for her small mouth. Her mom turned her emerald gaze to her daughter. Akina found herself wishing that she had her mom's eyes. They were so pretty, unlike her plain black gaze.

"W-who is this man? With the black hair?" She inquired, showing her mom the picture she had found on her desk. Sakura's eyes widened considerably, and then she closed them, laughing bitterly. Akina was suddenly sorry she had shown her mom this.

"I-never mind," She mumbled, "It's not important." With that, she began to walk away.

"No." Her mom's quiet voice stopped her.

"His name is Uchiha Sasuke. We used to be teammates." She confided softly. Akina stood very still. She could see this was hurting the older woman more than she cared to admit.

"I don't know. We grew apart." Well, she wasn't totally lying. After all, they did grow apart, but just in miles.

"Oh." Akina whispered.

"I-I'm going to go return this to your room." She turned on her heel and all but ran to her mother's room. If she had been thinking a bit more clearly, the youngest Haruno could have possibly realized that she looked eerily alike to this Uchiha Sasuke. She also might've realized that the man in the picture resembled her mom's sketches.