The roar of the crowd was deafening as it rattled the stony floors of the colosseum. As the senbon-chewing nin spoke, Sakura scanned the crowd for familiar faces, she could just barely see Naruto mouthing words to her, but over her own heartbeat and the cheers, she couldn't even be bothered to attempt to make out the words.
She couldn't bear to meet Ino's eyes, though she could feel them burning into her. From the look on the blonde's face, she was no happier with the match than she was. It was true the two were no longer friends, but neither kunoichi wanted to find himself on opposite ends of the arena. Something heavy hung between them, something unspoken and incredibly painful. Sakura's fingers twitched uncomfortably at her sides, unable to even manage to ball her fists, she awkwardly shifted on her feet while the battle conditions were explained to them. A knockout was an automatic win, and if ever one wanted to forfeit the fight, all they needed to do was raise a hand.
Every bone in her body desired to raise that white flag, to forfeit the fight instead of even trying. Ino had always been better than her at nearly everything, she had her beat by far in terms of appearance, lineage and jutsu. Sure,Sakura excelled at academics but if there was anything the chunin exams had taught her so far it was that she was a paper ninja at best. She doubted Ino's mentor had failed their team nearly as much as her own. Truthfully, she was still too shaken from her encounter in the forest to feel much more than a numbed anxiety and deep sadness, but that made the situation no easier. In fact, Sakura found her head nearly too fogged to pull forth coherent thought- let alone take part in combat.
As they stood parallel to one another, waiting for the buzzer to sound the start of their battle, she examined the way Ino's feet were shifting awkwardly, almost a mirror image to her own. The fight had already been emotionally compromised, and Sakura wasn't certain how it could get much worse.
And then the buzzer sounded, and both girls immediately went on the defensive. Her mind was still too foggy, but she could tell that Ino wasn't in much better shape.
Sakura awkwardly dodged a few senbon, thrown so carelessly she was certain it was nothing more than a mere warning shot. Sakura found her hands skimming over the rough patch of her weapon pouch, but was unable to produce any weapons.
"What's the matter, forehead?"Ino taunted shakily, her eyes betraying the emotions that were stirring within her. Sakura couldn't help the way her body erected at the nickname, what was once a horrible insult, now a painful strike much worse than any physical blow could be.
Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Sakura made the first move, pivoting forward and lashing out with her feet, parrying Ino's light blows and moving in sync with the other was more like an academy spar than a fight, and neither girl could delude themselves into even thinking there was intent behind their blows. Both secretly hoping nothing was landed, it made no sense and they were tiring themselves out more than anything else.
Ino's growing frustration began to bloom and as the roars of the crowd ticked away at her sanity, she finally tipped and two firm, flat hands made contact with Sakura's shoulders, and with all of her weight she threw the pinkette back, where she landed hard on her bottom.
Time seemed to pause as both girls stared at one another, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Sakura could vaguely hear Naruto's voice, but once again it was lost in the crowd.
Ino's mouth twisted into a hard line as she quickly collected herself, cockily placing a hand over her hip as she stared down at Sakura, "Looks like you plan to lose to me forever."She smirked, her facade of smugness nearly shining through her apologetic eyes.
Something about the fact that Ino had an opening to land an offensive blow and that she had chosen not to irked Sakura. There was a certain extent to which they were allowed to wear kid gloves in this fight, and Ino had made it clear that she pitied the other girl- and something about that really, really ticked her off.
"Sometimes a flower can't bloom if another one is shading it from the sunlight, pig. Isn't that what you said I was, a bud?" Sakura snarled, quickly regaining her footing as she ripped the headband from it's position atop her head, eyes harder than before she did her best to keep her hands from shaking.
"What are you saying? Feeling bad for yourself, forehead?" Ino scoffed, settling into a defensive stance as the two kunoichi began circling one another.
Pausing to tie the scarlet hiyate around her forehead, Sakura smirked, "I don't need you to shade me anymore, Ino. You're going to see me as your equal, whether you want to or not."
Snarling, Ino launched forward, and instead of an open hand, with a fist.
It connected hard to the already blackening bruise just below Sakura's eye, but unlike before she didn't flinch away from it. Although searing pain was beginning to bud in the tender area, Sakura didn't dare pull away, instead gripping Ino's extended forearm with both hands and using all of her force to throw the other girl.
A meter of distance was put between them, but Ino quickly caught her footing, eyes now merely blue slits as she charged forward, leg extending in a harsh swipe, Sakura almost went crashing to the ground as she narrowly dodged the attack. Her joints were still sore and her body still bruised from the horrendous assault only hours ago.
The manner of attack was now much more aggressive, and she was finding it almost impossible to dodge some of the attacks, and with punches landing she was quickly running out of stamina. By the time she could see Ino becoming physically tired, her vision was already starting to double. She didn't think she could keep this up much longer, she felt as though she were already running on borrowed time.
Awkwardly pivoting out of the reach of a more devastating punch her opponent had managed to produce, Sakura could feel the breath hitching in her throat as she handed a hard blow to Ino's lower back, hearing the blonde hiss in pain as she recoiled and another flurry of senbon came flying her way, and though they were directed at her lower body, it was far from a warning shot this time. There was something pleasing about that, in a strange way, even though she thought she may lose her grip on reality at any second, it felt like the first time Ino had ever treated her as an equal, as opposed to a pitiable, bullied little girl.
Tears bubbled at the corners of her eyes, burning the sore and bloodied patches from her earlier assault, but she desperately blinked them away, gasping painfully as Ino's fist connected with her ribs, a painful crack reverberated through her chest as she tumbled into the hard floor of the coliseum. She choked on a pitiable cry as she rolled painfully onto her broken ribs, narrowly avoiding a hard blow to her chest. Ino was wiping the floor with her.
A memory bubbled in the deepest corners of her mind, flashes of a sunny field, filled with beautiful flowers in full bloom. Sakura swore that had she closed her eyes at that very moment, she would have felt a cool breeze on her cheeks.
A strange feeling swelled inside her, sloshing around in her stomach and making her eyes uncomfortably blurred. A coldness she'd scarcely felt before began to prickle in her fingertips and toes.
Her fist connected with Ino's ribs, and as the blonde grunted and stumbled back, nearly tripping over her own feet, Sakura found herself swaying dangerously to the side.
Her movements felt sluggish, unnatural in nature. The roar of the crowd sounded distant and her vision was distorted, tunneling and blurred as her stomach began churning more violently than before.
One moment she was standing, and the next she was on her back, the sheer bodily pain keeping her conscious as Ino straddled her waist, kunai drawn and at her throat. The force of Ino's weight on her broken ribs was enough to draw a broken cry from her throat as she feebly tried to push the other girl off.
"Just give up, Sakura. It's over." Ino growled, eyes tinged pink with exhaustion as she touched the cool blade to the column of Sakura's throat for emphasis. Her eyes betrayed her conflict, as Sakura was sure her own had.
A deep breath tumbled from Sakura's quivering lips. The situation was so deeply ironic. She'd always pictured Ino as the towering force that kept her in the shadows, that which kept her from blooming. Now, she was certain that she's simply given up in her pursuit to beat Ino, she'd simply accepted her place beneath the other girl long ago, be it her superior bloodline lineage or simply the pubescent insecurities that she'd allow to dictate her entire life up to this point. It wasn't Ino's shadow keeping her from blooming, it was her own insecurity and stupidity that kept her from becoming who she'd wanted to be. Too naive and polite to ever be a shinobi.
With a painful display of her flexibility, Sakura hooked her legs back and kicked Ino off, the pain hot and seizing as she did, and with a mule-like kick as she struggled to prop herself up, the heel of her sandaled foot connected hard against the blonde's chin, a stomach-churning crack and the sound of Ino's body falling limp was the last thing she heard before a bandaged hand lifted her forward, steadying her at the waist before lifting her arm over her head, she stared up blankly at the crowd, vision doubled as her limbs suddenly became too heavy for her body.
"Sakura Haruno wins by knockout." The senbon-chewing shinobi bit out, releasing his grip on her, and before her legs could collapse beneath her Kakashi was there, eyes set forward as he helped her clumsily climb the steps to the seats. She'd just barely seen the bright orange of Naruto's jumpsuit before everything blurred together into an ugly grey.
When she woke up, she was surrounded by white, a steady hum from electrical equipment stirring her to consciousness. The lumpy bedding and scratchy sheets irritated her tender state as she attempted to blink away the painful crust around her eyes, now very aware of the searing pain in the center of her face. She didn't remember Ino hitting her in the nose, but her swollen face told her a different story.
"G'mrning frhead."
Sakura hazily dipped her head to the side, surprised to see Ino sitting up in the hospital bed next to her own. The privacy curtain between them had been slid back and she now stared dumbly at the blonde.
"Ino?" Sakura croaked, voice deeply nasal and breathy as she spoke, breath whistling loudly through her broken nose.
Ino snorted in painful laughter and Sakura saw the silver threads keeping her jaw in place and her mouth tightened into a hard line, to which Ino seemingly sighed through her wired jaw.
"Yeah," She murmured through her teeth, "e' rlly did a n'mber n' each other."
Sakura folded her hands uncomfortably over her lap, sure, it had felt nice to beat Ino for once, but she failed to remember that there would be consequences for her actions.
Something plopped down onto her lap, heavy and painful as it fell against her sore thighs. Wincing, she clutched the cool, smooth surface of her headband in her bandaged hand.
The plate of her former headband had been sewed carefully and neatly against a deep crimson cloth. She closed her eyes, and she was back in that spring meadow, the cool breeze washing against her cheeks as she met Ino's blue eyes.
When she opened her eyes again, a tear slid down her cheek. It burned the gash below her eye and dampened the bandages coiled around the center of her face.
"D'nt lose yer backbone n'w, frrhead." Ino smiled.
"Shut up, pig." Sakura coughed, thumb lightly brushing against the smooth surface of her headband, it felt warm to the touch.
"Look whose tlking', you s'nd like the pig." Ino grinned, silver wires glistening beneath the fluorescent lights above.
They talked for a while after that, Ino caught Sakura up on what had happened during the exams and, for what she could understand through Ino's broken Jaw, what was to come next.
Her next comparator was named Kin. A sound nin. Images of her face being slammed into the dirt and the man she had… she visibly flinched, but if Ino had noticed she'd said nothing.
She'd only been unconscious for a few hours and her parents had come by twice, her team once, and someone else, who Ino had not seen had left a small vase of lillies on her bedside table.
She felt oddly cared for, not that she'd ever felt unloved, her parents had been supportive and kind her whole life. Yet, the fact that so many people had come to make sure she was alright had left a warmth in her chest that nearly overcame the icy chill she felt.
When she was discharged that night, her parents escorted her home, doting on her the entire way. Her mother had drawn her a bath and made soba, in hopes of raising her spirits. While the gesture and the bath were both needed and appreciated, Sakura found that she had no appetite.
Something else had coiled into the pit of her stomach, like a snake.
Fear.
The next few days were a blur, a mix of uncomfortable anticipation as she awaited Kakashi's recommended mentor to present himself and... anger. Anger that almost entirely washed away all other emotion. He'd abandoned both her and Naruto, shoving them off on someone else to train Sasuke.
While she understood that his intentions were to help Sasuke refine his doujutsu, something only he could do, the facts were there and staring her in the face; he prioritized Sasuke over not only her, but Naruto as well. Naruto didn't seem pleased with the situation either, and hadn't stopped vocalizing his discontent since.
"Stupid Kakashi. Stupid exams.." Sakura sighed, tossing a small stone into the stagnant pond forming in her parents back yard. It had been raining constantly for nearly a week, and the perpetual grey, muggy atmosphere was doing nothing to raise her spirits.
"Sakura, honey?" Her mother called from just beyond the sliding doors that lead from the back porch into the house.
"Coming." Sakura called, gathering her things and shuffling back onto the splintering wood of the back porch, kicking off her muddied sneakers by the door as she went.
"Have you seen your father today? He was supposed to take out the trash." Her mother sighed, huffing as she tucked a strand of short, blonde hair behind her ear.
"He had to go over to Uncle Jiro's." Sakura sighed, knowing her father wouldn't be back until the late hours of the night.
"That man…" Her mother sighed, green eyes turning to slits as she threw down her dish towel to start chopping vegetables, "if Jiro was as good at fixing pipes as he was at gambling he might… well," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she tapped her nails against the glossed countertop.
"Forget it." She smiled tightly, "Sakura, honey? Could you please take out the trash?"
"Sure, mom." Sakura nodded, pulling the hood of her baby blue raincoat over her hair and shimmying the overfilled bag out of its plastic casing, haphazardly tying the top as she slid on her shoes and escaped through the back door.
The small yard was fenced in with a waist-high wall and just beyond the edge of her deck a little swinging gate opened up to the alley between her home and the bookstore next door.
Sighing, Sakura waded through the mushy earth toward the large aluminum cans on the side of her house, tossing the heavy bag inside with an annoyed sigh as she turned to peer into the street just beyond.
Surprisingly, a familiar orange jumpsuit clouded her vision. Naruto stood, just at the mouth of the alley, hands buried in his pockets as he stood, staring just beyond at something she couldn't see.
Squinting, she called out to him, confused as to what he could possibly be doing in the civilian sect of the village.
His head whipped so ferociously to the side she wouldn't have been surprised if his head spun around.
"Sakura-chah?" He exclaimed, blue eyes wide as he quickly jogged over to her, grinning wildly.
"What are you doing out here?" She muttered, leaning against the siding of her home.
"Heh.." Naruto smiled awkwardly, something strange swimming in his eyes as he scratched the back of his head, "I came to do some work at the bathhouse down the road. I just got off, actually."
Sakura's brows knitted, he was a shinobi. He was making a decent amount of money, why on earth would he be working at the dumpy little bathhouse on her side of town?
Before she could even begin to question his motives, he quickly reverted back to his cheerful, bouncy self. Despite an odd crinkle at the edge of his eyes.
"So is this where you live, Sakura-chan?" He grinned, thumbing towards the direction of her modest home and awkwardly patting the slightly yellowed siding for emphasis.
"Uh, yeah." She nodded, pointing to the gate near the back of her home, still swung slightly open.
"My mom is making dinner now, do you want to maybe come inside?" She questioned before her brain could fully comprehend that having Naruto's loudmouth self in her home with her strict mother could be a problem.
The way his eyes widened in surprise caused an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach, something almost akin to guilt.
"R…. really? You think that would be okay?" Naruto coughed, trying to hide the awkward blush touching his tanned features.
She smiled softly at him, silently reminding herself that despite his more annoying traits, Naruto had good traits too.
"Sure," she shrugged, motioning for him to follow her back through the alley, "my dad isn't home tonight so there should be more than enough to go around."
Naruto was awkwardly shuffling behind her as they made it to the door and she instructed him to remove his shoes. Apparently he didn't do that at his house, because he gave her a sideways glance as he dropped his sandals by the door, and she noticed for once that even though they were being compared to a ratty pair of her old shoes, his footwear still looked pretty rough. She didn't mention it as they crossed the threshold into her home.
"Mom, I ran into Naruto outside. Is it okay if he stays for dinner?" She called as she stepped into the kitchen to see her mother staring wide-eyed at her blonde haired teammate, the soup spoon she was once holding now clattering against the floor.
"Hey, be more careful!" Sakura sighed, bending down and grabbing the spoon off the floor, nose scrunching at the splatters of thick brown broth that now spotted the floor.
Her mother just silently stared for a moment longer, and while she silently bent down to gently take the wooden spoon from Sakura's hands and dab at the spilled soup with the tail of her apron, she dawned an eerily familiar tight lipped smile.
"Hey, Sakura-chan, I think I'm going to go." Naruto said in a voice so soft and flat Sakura had to turn around to see if it had actually come from the village's most notorious loudmouth.
His back was facing her and he was already shuffling to the back door when Sakura's mother finally spoke up.
"Nonsense, you should stay. A meal is always better with company." She smiled, her eyes crinkling around the edges as she nodded in affirmation to the wide eyed blonde boy.
Sakura, lost in the confusion of the oddly tense situation, awkwardly chuckled as Naruto seemed to perk up.
"Wow, is this you, Sakura-chan?" Naruto exclaimed, pointing to a picture on the wall.
It was a photo of her mother and father the day she was born, with her cradled in her mother's arms, cheeks rosy and hair a bright, bubblegum pink.
"Yes. She was such a fussy baby." Sakura's mother chuckled from across the room, her back leaning against the countertop as she took on a faraway look, a genuine smile dancing on her lips.
"Sakura's grandmother swore that she'd be fussy even before she was born, she said I didn't eat enough cold food." She grinned, snorting softly as she dreamily eyed the photograph.
"Whoa, really? So babies are fussy if you don't eat cold stuff?" Naruto questioned, continuing to eye the photograph.
"No, no. Our family comes from a country just across the sea, and Sakura's grandparents were very traditional. They said that pregnancy was a hot condition, and to maintain yin and yang, I should eat cold foods. I can't tell you how many times Sakura's grandmother stopped by just to bring me shaved ice or cold noodles."
"Huh, somewhere across the sea?" Naruto asked, staring surprisedly at Sakura and her mother.
The older blonde woman laughed as she turned down the heat on the stove and took a seat at the end of the table, "Yes. Sakura's father and I both visited this land as children, in fact. Our families were friends and in our country, skilled warriors. When we got old enough we decided we wanted to study the strange fighting style of the hidden villages, so we packed everything and moved out here with our families."
Sakura sighed, slumping down into a chair across from her mother, exasperated from hearing this story for the millionth time, yet Naruto looked like he was absolutely bursting at the seams.
"That's so cool! What was it like where you were from?" He exclaimed, voice rattling through the old house as he too took a seat at the table.
"Well," Sakura's mother sighed, "it was far from perfect. It was a very poor village. Sakura's father and I were very lucky to be born into military families, we didn't want for much. Still, our country seemed to constantly be at war with itself, it was a hard place to be, even in those times.
Most people in our village made a living either working in rice fields or herding animals. There wasn't much else to do. I'd love to regale you with exciting tails of foreign lands but unfortunately, there isn't much to say of our homeland." She smiled, resting her cheek in her palm with a sigh.
As the door to her house swung open, Sakura could see her father's unruly, pink mane before he even made it through the doorway.
"Ah, Mebuki." He grinned, bending over to tiredly kiss the blonde woman on the cheek before sleepily gazing in Sakura's direction, his eyes finally fell on their whiskered guest and while he too wore a look of shock for a moment, it quelled quickly into a friendly smile.
"You must be Naruto, it's good to meet you, I'm Kizashi." He said warmly, extending a hand to the young boy.
Naruto stared at it a moment in confusion, before hesitantly gripping the extended hand and offering an awkward shake.
"Well, dinner should be ready. Hope everyone's hungry." Mibuki laughed, shuffling pack over to the stove.
It felt like hours passed as Mebuki, Kizashi and Naruto chatted happily. It felt oddly natural, though an odd feeling continued stirring within Sakura as she noticed Naruto's eyes glimmering with excitement… and something else.
She had questions about her parents reaction too. They had both worn a very specific face and it was too obvious to be a coincidence. Memories of Naruto in the academy swam through her mind, the way adults picking up their young children would look at her blonde haired teammate, had her parents looked at him that way once too? Why, could it possibly be connected to the strange, orange chakra she'd seen unleashed from within him that day on the bridge?
As her mother and father receded to their room for the night, with a stern warning from her father to Naruto that made his cheeks turn an alarming shade of red, she walked him back out through the back door and into the backyard. He had paused, his orange clad back to her, and dipped his head back to stare silently at the large, silvery moon shining down on him.
"You're really lucky, Sakura-Chan." He said in a silent voice, just barely above a whisper.
"What?"
"You have a really good family, Sakura-Chan." He said, turning to smile at her, she finally understood why his back was to her, as she saw the fat teardrops catching the silvery glow of the moon.
She just stood, silently, feeling it wrong to say anything as Naruto hastily swiped at his face with his sleeve, a tight, broad smile plastered over his face.
"Anyway thanks for having me over, Sakura-chan, I should be going now, lot's to do-"
"Naruto," Sakura whispered, feeling her eyes water despite herself, "come over anytime you want. You're always welcome here."
The look of shock on his face ate to her core, as she realized this was probably the only time he'd eaten a family dinner, this was probably the only time he was even invited into a friends house. Suddenly, she felt horrible for never approaching the lonely boy on the playground- she wondered if it was wrong of her to feel that way.
"Thanks, Sakura-chan." Naruto smiled a small, genuine smile as he disappeared through the gate from her backyard.
"Idiot." She smiled to herself, green eyes now soaking in the sight of the night sky, it really was beautiful.
She wondered if the breeze was causing the sudden warmth on her cheeks, or if it was the tears.
She wasn't sure how long she stood there, simply staring at nothing, recalling every brief memory she had of her teammates. Did Sasuke feel like Naruto did? Was it wrong to feel… disconnected from the two? How could she begin to feel what he did when she couldn't imagine a world without her parents? How lonely had they been?
The strange, but obvious bond Naruto and Sasuke shared had always been something she'd made guesses at, but she was sure the solidarity of two young boys who had very little had connected them in a way she'd never be able to understand. It made her feel a little awkward, but it also felt kind of nice. Knowing that at least the two understood each other and, in that sense at least, they weren't entirely alone.
Something soft and warm slid over her shoulders, and as a gentle kiss was placed on top of her head her eyes once again prickled with tears. Damn her crybaby eyes.
"He's a nice boy." Mebuki smiled, sitting down on the edge of the deck, joining her daughter in admiration of the sky.
"Why do people dislike him so much?" Sakura questioned, pulling the blanket closer against her chest as she sat down beside her mother, leaning her head onto the older woman's shoulder.
Her mother hummed in thought for a moment, "What do you think?" She questioned vaguely, almost as if the answer just barely danced on the tip of her tongue, but she didn't dare speak it into life.
"I…" Sakura hesitated, eyes squinting in thought, "I don't know. Maybe because Naruto is different, compared to most people."
"People tend to fear things that are different, or things that remind them of bad memories." Mebuki hesitated, her eyes darkening slightly, a soft frown touching her lips.
"Did… do you and dad see Naruto as something like that, something bad?" Sakura whispered, hand trembling slightly as she felt something painful twist into her gut, had she in some way made Naruto's life harder?
Her mother sat silently for a long time, eyes low to the wet earth as she placed a gentle hand on Sakura's head,
"People isolated Naruto because he reminds them of something bad. I knew someone very similar to Naruto in my youth...so your father and I never looked at Naruto as something bad, something to be tucked away and forgotten. However, standing on the sidelines and never saying anything, never extending a hand- well.. Sometimes that can be worse than someone who says or does cruel things."
Sakura hardly slept that night, strange dreams of blurred faces and poppies kept her sleepily waning in and out of rest. When the sun peeked over her bedroom window that morning, a strange sensation tingled just at the top of her head.
"Sakura, honey?" Her father rasped, knuckles lightly padding against her door as he sleepily scratched at his messy, pink mane.
"Aa?" Sakura yawned, opening the door to see her father's smiling face.
"Good morning, kiddo. Your Sensei is at the door." He grumbled, swaying slightly as he waltzed back into his bedroom.
Sakura hurried down the hall into the kitchen, her father had been correct, Kakashi sat just at the end of her kitchen table, his usual smut pressed tight against his face as her mother stood, arms-crossed and face swelling red with anger.
"Good Morning, Sakura." Kakashi smiled behind his mask, eye crinkling slightly as he slid out from behind the shabby table.
"What are you doing here so early?" Sakura yawned, green eyes narrowed in suspicion. She didn't think Kakashi even knew a time before twelve existed.
He feigned a hurt expression as he pulled a small envelope from within his flak jacket, holding it out to her with a smile. "I told you I'd find you a mentor for the chunin exams, didn't I?"
Snatching the fold of paper from his hands she hastily unfolded the letter, face seeming to grow darker as she carefully took in each word.
"Thanks." She grumbled, turning on a heel and directing herself back the way she had come. She could feel her eyes growing warm but she wouldn't allow him the satisfaction.
Her mother called out to her, tone tight and surprised, but Sakura didn't dare turn around. She could hear Kakashi speaking silently with her mother for a moment, but as she receded into the bathroom the sound of voices just seemed to bleed away.
She quickly locked the door and flipped on the shower, releasing the breath she'd been holding had felt like a weight being removed from her chest, tears dripped down her cheeks and emassed at her chin as she climbed under the hot spray of water.
She wanted to scream and stomp her feet and curse Kakashi and his stupidity and irresponsibility. She wanted to throw a tantrum like a child in a grocery store but she refused to let him know how much he had let her down- firstly, because then she'd have to face the crushing realization that he probably didn't care and secondly… because it was like an admission of jealousy toward her teammates, Sasuke in particular. What would he think of her? Would he call her childish? A brat?
After she was washed and her eyes dry and puffy she brushed her teeth and tied her fluffy, yellow bathrobe around her, hesitantly peeping her head out of the bathroom door.
Her plan had been thwarted, however, for the moment she cracked open the door she was met with the familiar red and white pattern of her mother's dress.
When she met Mebuki's eyes, her mother's anger seemed to die down to confusion, her blonde brows twisting together and arms uncrossing as she examined her daughter a moment before sighing and leaning against the door frame.
"We're going to forget the disrespect you just showed to an elder for a moment," Mebuki sighed, "what happened back there?"
Hesitantly, Sakura dropped the now-slightly crumpled letter into her mother's hands, eyes falling hard to the floor as her mother skimmed through the letter, finally sighing as she placed a firm hand on her daughter's shoulder.
"Sakura, get dressed and meet me in the backyard." She nodded, dipping down through the hall, leaving a stunned Sakura in her wake.
Confused and prepared to be scolded, she did as instructed, quickly slipping into her bedroom and throwing on a pair of khaki shorts and a loose fitting, light green t-shirt.
She slipped through the back door and stepped out onto the still wet earth. Oddly, her mother was nowhere in sight.
"Sakura, come here a moment."
Sakura cautiously approached the back gate, green eyes narrow as she stepped into the alley where her mother stood, purse slung loosely over her arm as she nodded her head towards the mouth of the alley.
"Let's go on a walk." Mebuki smiled, green eyes glistening with mischief as she looped her arm around her daughter's, hooking her by the elbow.
Cheeks slightly red with the embarrassment of being dragged along by her mother, she shuffled silently alongside as her mother happily weaved through the people in the streets, smiling at passerby.
The path they walked was oddly familiar, and Sakura was certain her mother had a specific goal in mind on where she was set on going- but couldn't fathom exactly where they were going.
After about fifteen minutes a small, wooden house just on the outskirts of the village came into view, her uncle Jiro's home.
Pink brows knit slightly as her mother knocked on the door, she refrained from asking any questions- certain her mother wouldn't tell her anyway.
The door slid open and she was met with her uncle's familiar, tanned face. Her uncle Jiro was a tall, broad man with dark features much like her father's, he wore his traditional tangzhuang coat and a confused grin as he stared at the two Haruno women.
"Ha, Mebuki, Sakura!" He smiled, giving Sakura a soft pat on the head, "Look at you, it feels like forever since I've seen you. Come in, I'll make some tea."
Mebuki hummed happily as she lead her daughter into the house, and Sakura cautiously followed her uncle into the kitchen.
"Jiro, would you mind if Sakura and I took a look at grandmother's old things?" She smiled, green eyes still glistening.
"Huh? Oh, sure. Everything's in the store room in the back. There isn't a whole lot back there, Kizashi took most of it back to your place." He laughed, setting the kettle on the stove and scratching his short, black hair.
"Honestly, most of that stuff is just mom's old junk, Kizashi and I nearly killed each other over dad's old armor, but I knew Kizashi would probably put more use to it anyway," Jiro laughed, reminiscing for a few moments with Mebuki as he lead them back farther into the house, pointing into a small room full of boxes.
"Good luck trying to find anything in that mess, you know how my mother was- the woman kept everything." He sighed, excusing himself to go and get the kettle off the stove.
"Mom, what are we looking for, exactly?" Sakura questioned, nose wrinkling at the smell of dust and age wafting off the antiques.
"Don't worry, about it," Mebuki grinned, wagging a finger at her daughter, "it's a surprise. Now grab some boxes and let's start looking!"
"How can I help you if I don't know what I'm looking for- hey, ow!" Sakura hissed, rubbing the now tender patch on her head where her mother had smacked her with a folding fan.
"Stop asking questions and just start looking." Mebuki sighed.
Sakura began peering through the boxes of her grandmother's things, smiling at the small knick knacks and odd things her grandmother had collected throughout the years. Fond memories of afternoon's with her grandparents flashed through her mind.
She remembered that for everything in the room her grandmother had a story, sure they were mostly dramatization and slightly foggy memory, but she'd always loved them nonetheless. Her grandparents had been so proud of their home country she was surprised they'd been willing to leave.
After nearly an hour of searching and three cups of jasmine tea- courtesy of her doting uncle who was very concerned she or her mother were going to strain themselves sifting through heavy boxes, which they were not, her mother finally exhaled with excitement.
"Okay, she hummed. That should be everything!" She breathed, lifting a now full box off the ground with a grunt and shimmying through the doorway, giving a quick and confusing goodbye to her uncle as she hurried happily out the door.
Chasing behind her mother as the older woman seemingly ignored every question she attempted to ask, Sakura sighed, tired and confused as her mother walked up the tall steps leading to the front door of the home.
Kizashi met them at the door, confused to realize that when he'd finally woken up his family had disappeared. With jovial happiness at seeing his wife and daughter he proudly took the box from his wife with a heady grunt and lead them into the living room, gently setting the box down on the floor as he sank into his reclining chair with a deep sigh.
"Jiro called and said you'd stopped by to look through mom's stuff, passing some family history down to our daughter?" Kizashi grinned, shooting Sakura a playful wink as he nodded towards the cardboard box.
"Go ahead, Sakura, open it." Mebuki smiled, "you might find yourself feeling better when you do."
Curiously Sakura folded back one if the cardboard flaps on the box, grabbing a bundle if silk that sat on top.
"A…" Sakura began, squinting slightly, "a qipao?" Sakura questioned, examining the dress, though it seemed more like a top. It was similar to the red qipao she already wore, but much shorter, the silken fabric was a bright red and the embroidery around the straight collar a still shimmery and pristine white, a decorative pattern around the side featured a swan and several variations of flower, the sleeves were long and ended with a triangular pattern to lay over the back of the hand, with small loops to be used around the middle fingers to keep the fabric in place.
"It was your grandmother's when she was your age, look what was underneath it." Mebuki smiled, tipping her head toward the box in encouragement.
Cautiously, Sakura grabbed a long strip of black spandex out of the box, unfolding it carefully as to not damage the fabric.
It was a pair of black tights, the fabric was thin and tight and she could see that small circles of white stretched from the side of one of the legs to the ankle, it was a dragon coiled in a circle, her family crest- the ouroboros.
"Grandmother wore this?" Sakura gasped in surprise.
"Yes. In her time it was scandalous, but she thought that it was impractical for a woman to fight in a dress." Mebuki grinned, "She didn't want to sacrifice the beauty in her clothes either- but she didn't want to be slowed down by restrictive fabric, so she tailored this suit herself for combat. You remember what your grandmother used to say, don't you?"
"A woman has to be strong to survive." Sakura sighed, repeating the mantra her grandmother had drilled into her head since her youth.
"That's right. Keep going." Mebuki smiled.
Beneath the articles of clothing were various decorative hair pins and little bobbles, and at the bottom of the box laid an ornate bow.
Sakura pulled the surprisingly weighty bow from the box, it was crafted from a dark, polished wood and had a thicker appearance than most, tiny, carved blossoms extended from both tips. The colored paints still glossy and pristine.
Kizashi laughed, "I remember that, when I was younger your grandmother would make Jiro and I spend hours trying to use that thing- we were never any good at it, of course. Jiro nearly took out your mother's eye with it once!"
"Oh goodness, I remember. That's how we met." Mebuki laughed, playfully slapping Kizashi on the arm.
"Jiro was finally getting the hang of it- almost actually hit the target for once too, and your mother was across the street with her father when-"
"When an arrow came flying through the canopy of a fruit stand I was at, the tip broke off in the canopy but the shaft fell through and poked me so hard in the eye I had to wear a patch for months." Mebuki finished, eyes teary with laughter.
"I was so scared my brother had blinded your mom I promised her dad I'd do anything to make up for it." Kizashi grinned, "and then he socked me to hard in the eye I thought I was going to go blind."
Sakura laughed, enamored with the bow in her hands as she sat, examining it for a very long time. Though the anger from earlier was still deep in her belly, her mother was right, she did feel a little better.
Yet, like all good things, the short few days of familial bliss had to end. For tomorrow she would need to meet with her temporary mentor- and face the reality that she'd be going into the next portion of the chunin exams just as unprepared as she had been for the first.
Woo, new update. I really like the HC that Sakura is Chinese so I tried to focus a bit on that as well as her family dynamic. I wish they would have shown a little more of her family in the series.
I'll try to find a regular schedule for updates that way chapters are coming out at a more stable pace, it's just a big process trying to make a chapter that's around 7k words long. I re-read this chapter a bit more than the last but knowing me there's probably still some errors and rambling. I tried to make it as detailed and possible- but I suck at writing fight scenes. Hopefully it lives up to the first chapter. I'm working on the third now and I've got lots of ideas. Also, thanks a lot to the two people who left reviews, and Nunu212. I really appreciate it. It means a lot.
Also, I don't really remember how big the gap was between the first and second part of the chunin exams were? But I'm assuming it was a couple weeks, and if it's not we'll just pretend it is.
