- Contemplation -

At the age of four, I was already allowed to walk around Konoha by myself. In my previous life, I did not even leave the house without my parents until I turned twelve. Yet at the same time it didn't feel weird since I was mentally older than my body was.

But that didn't mean I chose to walk alone today.

"Sachi, let's go to the park!" Sarada insisted. For a small child, she was quite bossy. Maybe it was due to my own shyness and reluctance to do anything. To be fair, I was a child so I could waste some time.

Me and my twin were making our way through the marketplace. It was not too crowded since it was only nine in the morning. The only reason I got up this early was an desire to socialize with someone other than Tou-san, Kaa-san, and my twin sister. Which is also way I did not want to go to the park.

I turned to my sister who was trekking on next to me. I shook my head, "I told you, we're going to Inojin's. It's boring at the park anyway."

Despite our shinobi parents encouraging us to go outside often, I'm pretty sure it was a thing in the entire village since it is the Hidden LEAF, I still did not particularly enjoy outside excursions. I never have, I could stay indoors for days and be content. Besides, civilian children are so irritating. Even if I was not a mentally advanced child they would probably still be annoying.

My sister responded by puffing up her cheeks in anger. "You never want to go to the park. It's like you hate nature or something!" Now that was not completely true.

I pouted, "The civilian kids are boring and whiny. It's more fun to hang out with Inojin or even Shikadai!"

"... I can't argue with that." Sarada grumbled. I weaved our fingers together and started swinging our joined arms in synch with our pace. "But being stuck in just another house is not much of a difference from staying home."

I let out a noncommittal hum. I was not changing my mind this time and Sarada knew it. She would be grumpy but I knew what I was doing. Forging bonds with other children destined to be notable shinobi was an important task I assigned myself to accomplish for both of us. Well that and I honestly did enjoy spending time with the children of the original cast, they were quirky even as four-year-olds and more mature than civilian kids.

"Sachi are you listening?" And I am spacing out again. I vaguely sensed Sarada chatting about something.

"Sorry, I spaced out again." I said sheepishly. She just sighed and continued talking. She was discussing what kind of things she wanted to do as a ninja. We had been learning hand signs recently and Sarada was trying to study medical jutsu from some of Kaa-san's books. I wondered if she could actually apply them with chakra. Speaking of chakra, I could sense some familiar people down the road.

"Sarada which summoning contract would you want?" She tilted her head inqusitively.

"Hmmm... that's kinda random but I would want the slug contract. Mama and Tsunade-sama both have it."

"Not the snake contract that Tou-san has?" I asked.

"Nah, no offense to Papa but snakes are kinda creepy." She made a disgusted expression.

I giggled at her expression. "Snakes are okay. But I would want something else." I brought my finger to my chin. "Maybe the cat or bird contract. Yeah! I want a contract with soft fluffy summons! That's the only way to go for me!" I asserted with determination. If I couldn't have a pet then a summon was the next step.

My sister didn't get a chance to reply as we had reached the Yamanaka clan's main household.

"We're here."

The three flickers of concentrated blue chakra signatures showed that all three residents of the house were home. Which makes sense since no sane person would leave home this early without unusual circumstances.

I turned to Sarada and flashed her a wicked grin. "Race ya to the door!" Letting go of her hand, I made a mad dash for the door further down the path ahead. She let out a choking sound before regaining her composure and rushing after me, the mercurial and spontaneous of the two Uchiha twins.

I laughed in joy. It was times like this doing simple fun things really made me carefree and happy. I was always a childish person at heart. Even if I lost the improv race, it was just so carefree it didn't matter in the end. It was for fun and fun was being had by the both of us.

Before, I was a very un-athletic girl who hated racing like this. I always lost, from the playground in elementary school to the track field in my teen years. I was always the slowest and hated racing even casually. But now, I could run for a long time before tiring, impressive even for a four-year-old. And running felt good, it felt right.

We were running side by side now. That is when our competitive sides kicked in. We started shoving each other with our upper bodies, running in sync pushing against each other with our upper arms.

We reached the door and shouted, "FIRST!"

We exchanged annoyed expressions, "No I stepped first!" "Sarada, we were running in sync!" "My feet were faster!" "That makes no sense!"

A matching glare was leveled at my own before we both lost it and broke into laughter. It was a twin thing, I presumed. It just happened naturally, one of the only times we did the 'talk at the same time saying the exact same things' thing that twins always seem to be able to do. We were evenly matched in out races but it was all fun.

I turned to the door and knocked. Sarada reverted to her default pose of her arms folded behind her.

A blonde haired woman opened it within seconds, smiling at the sight of us, probably ruffled and a little dusty. Her pupil-less blue eyes were glittering with amusement.

"Sarada-chan, Sachiko-chan, I heard you as you got closer." She said with an amused smile. "I'm sure the entire neighborhood heard you two."

I just grinned with pride while Sarada smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Aunt Ino. I hope we didn't disturb you?"

Ino Yamanaka waved her hand in a dismissive motion. "Nonsense, you two liven up the place. Inojin is not as energetic or excitable as the two of you. It's a nice change of pace. Come in, Inojin needs some motivation." She gestured for us to step inside and we took off our shoes.

The house was a bit big but still had a cozy feel to it. Now that I was closer I could sense that the smaller strip of chakra was upstairs, meaning that Inojin was probably in his room. I began fidgeting without meaning to. Being polite could be so tedious at times.

Noticing my impatience, my always dignified sister asked if we could see Inojin. Ino practically pushed us to the staircase with a knowing look directed at me.

Rushing up the steps, I stopped at the light hazel door that was the entrance to Inojin's domain as he referred to. It still amazed me that shinobi clan children could get so addicted to video games. I had enjoyed them before but compared to the fresh air and nature of this unpolluted world, games were just not as appealing. Not to mention the ninja genes that seemed to demand outdoor exposure constantly.

Sure enough, the blonde boy was sprawled on the carpet mashing away at a small handheld console with constant beeping noises.

"Inojiinnn!" I whined.

"Hm?" He almost looked back but changed his mind and continued focusing on his game. "Hold on I'm almost at a save point."

Sarada was annoyed if her facial expression was any indication. I took to looking around his room since he would eventually be finished. It seemed that he was drawing more, though his style was more modern and less fluid like his dad's 'old' style. Something that we shared an interest in. Sarada had sat down next to him, looking at his screen in mild curiosity.

A chime caused him to break out in a smile and finally turn his attention to us. "So what are you guys doing here anyway?"

I shrugged. "Bored so we decided to hang with you." The Yamanaka heir hummed in understanding.

"How about we draw?" Sarada suggested.

We ended up doing just that, obviously I was more experienced so my drawings were naturally more impressive but it was not a competition. Just another carefree day as a child. There might be world peace but there was always conflict and eventually, me, my sister and every other innocent kid would be dragged into it. It didn't bother me as much as much as it should have.

I was just trying to enjoy life while I still lived.

Is that a selfish act?

Now that finals are over I can start to update my stories!

But still not much until like January 1st. This might be the last update in 2016 :o

Thanks for reading! Favorite, follow and review please!

~Qyndox