The next few weeks, Sakura steadily built up her food stock for the coming winter, she didn't know it but in the future fish would be her favorite dish including eating it as she was pregnant to the point of being almost obsessive.
Sakura had already read through the two books Luka had given her, she hadn't seen him since that day but from time to time when Sakura didn't feel like cooking, she would sneak downtown to the restaurant alley and eat the scraps and drink the water Luka would leave out for her.
That day though, Sakura was going to scour the village looking for something new to do, she had already taught herself how to access her storage scroll and it was filled with old clothes people threw away, some of them were huge but Sakura figured out a way to make them fit.
As she exited her alley, since no one else ever wandered down that way, Sakura was wearing a fitted t-shirt that she had expertly cut with her scissors, they had been dull but using the rock had sharpened them right up, so now the shirt looked more like a dress.
Around her waist was a thin rope made of intricate knots also made by her own hand, the only thing missing from Sakura's attire were her shoes, she had forgotten them by the river, but when she had gone back they had vanished so she went without.
Ready, Sakura set forth into the village, weaving through crowds of people with an ease that would make adults jealous she searched every where she could think of, stumbling across several parks bustling and filled to the brim with children that she whole heartedly avoided.
Sulking at striking out for the third day in a row, Sakura walked down a path she had never been on before and came face to face with the very thing that she had wanted above all else, the building Sakura stood before was the library.
'Now the only question is, is how do I get inside without drawing suspcion upon myself' Sakura mused inwardly as she paced in circles, she never noticing the crowd of people gathering around her until it was to late, Sakura jumped when someone nudged her shoulder.
"Hey aren't you just adorable, are you waiting for your mom and dad" the woman asked and Sakura gave her a pained smile, not really telling the truth "Come on then would you like to go in with me while I work" the woman asked again.
Sakura's eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly, she stayed stubbornly silent though due to some innate thing, Sakura knew that librarians liked their libraries just that silent and so as the woman led her through, finding it easier than she thought it would be Sakura sat patiently.
"What are you waiting for, go pick out a few books" the woman shooed her off to the children section of the library then went back to her table to get to work, the minute she had taken her eyes off of Sakura though is when the little girl tiptoed over to the ninja information sections.
Sakura wouldn't steal but she would read as much as she could, grabbing several books, one of genjutsu, one of chakra application to all the different things, along with one on weapons and of course the last one on more herbs.
With her books in arms, Sakura headed back to the table only to get scolded "No, no, no, those books aren't for little girls" the woman she had come in with snatched the books up from the table and took them back to their shelf a moment later she returned with a child's book.
Sakura's eye twitched in irritation and huffed angrily at that, and smoothly pushed the book away, though she didn't make any further sounds of complaint, Sakura patiently waited for the woman to finish her work, though when she was finished, Sakura was presented with a new problem.
"Come along then, I'll help you find your parents since they didn't show up" the woman grasped Sakura by the arm and tugged her along after her, despite Sakura's struggles, they soon exited the library and Sakura looked back with dismay in her eyes.
"I'm fine, now let me go" Sakura snapped and ripped her arm from the insistent woman's hold, it took quite a lot of effort and she was glad that she had been doing all that work, Sakura didn't wait around and took off like a rocket, not looking back to see if that woman was following her.
The woman pressed her lips together, if she ever saw that ungrateful little brat again, she was going straight to the girls parents to let them know how misbehaving the child was and hopefully the girl would get punished for her actions.
Sakura skidded to a halt around the corner of an alley that wasn't hers, her heart was pounding and blood was rushing in her ears, when she was certain that the woman hadn't followed her, Sakura peeked around and stealthily made her way back to the library.
Inside she was stopped "Hello there, aren't you a sweetie" the librarian smiled as best she could at the dirty child but Sakura remained silent once again the librarian frowned "How old are you" she eyed Sakura hoping to get the girl talking.
Sakura held up two fingers "May I look at the books in the ninja section" she asked hesitantly, because of earlier she was unsure of if she could read them, were they truly not for little girls, could girls even become ninja or was it just for boys.
The librarian blinked and pushed her glasses up her nose "Certainly, how would you like a library card, so that you can take them home with you" she inquired already prepared to fill out the information the girl needed so that she could take a few books.
"I'm an orphan" Sakura explained waiting to be carted off back to the orphanage, when she opened her eyes after having squeezed them shut, Sakura noticed the librarian staring at her with pity in her gaze but deftly filled out the information, as she asked Sakura questions.
Tapping her pencil on the card, the librarian handed it over to Sakura "Here you go sweetie, though I would suggest only taking five books at the most so that you can keep track of them, and you have a month before you have to return them" she sent Sakura off.
Sakura with a silent squeal of happiness, rushed towards the ninja section of the library and quickly selected all five of her previous books "I'd like to check these out please" Sakura set the books on the counter and the librarian quickly stamped them and wrote down the information.
A thought came to the librarian then "Use this to mark your days" she handed Sakura a chalk calender that had all the months and it's thirty days, Sakura laughed softly before gently taking the calender and exiting the library happy as could be.
With books in arms and her calender slung over her shoulder, Sakura sprinted through the village at top speed, making sure to avoid that horrible woman at all costs, she almost ran into her but thanks to Sakura's sneakiness, she dodged through a crowd and disappeared.
Reaching her alley, Sakura breathed a loud sigh of relief and plopped down in her box, after setting up a fish to eat for lunch, she would probably go eat scraps for dinner, as Sakura waited for her food to cook, she flipped open one of her new books.
The one she had chosen was the chakra application, soon Sakura was absorbed in the world that was knowledge as she flipped through page after page, devouring every little detail and storing the information away for later use.
By the time her fish was ready, Sakura had read through more than half the book, and while she ate, she read even more, when she got ready for bed, Sakura closed her book and set it in a neat little pile underneath a blanket already finished with it.
Sakura woke up the next morning starving, she had realized that since she was so into her book that she had forgotten to eat, that didn't bother her half as much as it was supposed to, anyways, that morning Sakura cooked double of what she usually did.
Noticing her little cooler loosing it's ice, Sakura decided she would have lunch and dinner by the river, so cooler and bag in hand that held all seven of her current books, Sakura left the village and headed to the place that was very special to her.
Thankfully the river was deep in the forest, the opposite direction of the orphanage so with a happy sigh, Sakura set down all of her things in a certain order and quickly dug up worms a whole lot of them and put them in a container.
Next Sakura went to the river and collected several cups of water to put in the cooler and turn them into ice, she also took the time to catch fish to add to her cooler, scaling, gutting and removing the bones from all six fish.
While waiting for the ice to take shape, Sakura headed into the forest and collected as many herbs as she could along with some new ones that she knew would add to keeping her as healthy as possible, and labeled the bags with the name of each.
Sakura checked on her cooler, still no ice, so she quickly built two small fires, one she set her tea kettle over after unsealing it from her storage scroll, the second she speared a fish after layering the herb paste over it like she was use to doing.
Finally Sakura once again checked on her cooler and grinned in triumph, so shoving her newest catches in the cooler, Sakura dumped the new ice over the fish to keep them chilled, with a break in tasks as more ice formed, she sat down and pulled out a different book.
The second book she chose to read was one on genjutsu and how to detect them, it fascinated her that she nearly missed her fish being finished, but Sakura's nose was very good and could immediately tell, so she pulled the fish from the fire and ate while she read once again.
When Sakura was half way through her book, she closed it and settled it into her pack, in order to survive she had to eat more than fish, though Sakura loved the taste it wasn't enough anymore, so knife in hand Sakura headed into the forest with a determined gleam in her eyes.
Forty five minutes later she returned with three rabbits slung over her shoulder on a string, she had pounced when they least expected it, though Sakura was sure that the mother rabbit was pissed, it sucked being the lowest in the food chain and there was little she could do.
Sakura concentrated on skinning the rabbits, as an idea formed, she could keep the skin and dry it out, use it for blankets and the like, next, though it disgusted her, Sakura gutted the poor things and removed the bones as best she could.
Finished, Sakura put the meat in the cooler with her fish, on top and dumped the rest of the ice that had formed in her absence over the new source of protein, Sakura swiped her grimy hair out of her face, proud of the various accomplishments she had completed so far that day.
Though she was nowhere near finished, so Sakura stoked her dying fire, picked a few goldenrod flowers and using an old strainer, made her very first cup of tea, though she had nothing to sweeten it with, Sakura thought it was the best thing she had made that day.
Grabbing up her rod, Sakura put another wriggling worm on her hook, instead of depleting her stock of food so soon she headed to the river once again and caught another fish, which she quickly repeated her earlier process and speared it over the fire.
While her dinner cooked, Sakura pulled out her book on genjutsu again and started reading, by the time the fish got done cooking, and by the time Sakura got done eating, the second book had been read through and all of its information was stored safely within Sakura's head.
Packing up was easier than setting everything up, Sakura first put out her fires with the left over water, making sure there were no marks upon the ground before burying the left over sticks and roasting stick she had made from her knife.
Afterwards, she cleaned off all of her things, her tea kettle was washed thoroughly, along with the knife and her hands, her bag was repacked and cooler in hand, Sakura headed back to the village sneaking through the entrance unnoticed like usual.
The next few days were basically a repeat process, as Sakura read through all five of her books, on the morning of the fifth day, Sakura made her breakfast with a bit of rabbit meat and then grabbed up the library books, and her library card and marched all the way across town to return them.
The librarian the same one that had filled out the information for Sakura's library card looked up only to stare in surprise as Sakura entered the library and walked right up to her "Welcome to the library again Sakura-chan" the librarian greeted.
Sakura gave the woman a sweet smile taking note of her name tag "I've read all my books, Sayu-san" she pushed all five of the books onto the counter and once again Sayu's eyebrows raised into her hairline, but quickly admitted them back into the library.
"Your a very fast reader, you said you were two right" Sayu made light conversation with the girl as she waited for her stamp to leave it's mark on the card this stamp signaled the first return, then a thought came to Sayu as it finished.
Sakura smiled sheepishly before nodding "Uh huh, I taught myself to read when I started being on my own, it would be awful if I couldn't read directions" she shrugged, it was a logical reason to have the ability to read and eventually write.
Sayu was astonished but handed Sakura her library card again "Hey, something good will happen if you fill in all those stamp slots" Sayu called out to the girl before she could disappear to the books and grab even more.
Interest peaked once more Sakura turned on her heels "What will happen" she asked curiously, Sakura sat in the chair that was by the check out counter, Sayu was a very nice lady, and wasn't mean like that lady from the other day.
"Well it's a sort of come one come all sort of thing but if you get 15 stamps on your card, you'll get this" Sayu held up a picture of an easel along with all of it accessories, paint, brushes, stencils, even huge sketch pads five of them, pencils, colored pencils and five of each different canvas.
Sakura stared in awe, that would be perfect for her "And you said that anyone who gets fifteen stamps gets one" Sakura asked just to be sure, Sayu nodded and a joyful smile spread across Sakura's lips at the news "Then I'll be sure to participate" Sakura nodded decisively.
Sayu sighed, and briefly wondered if she should have just kept her mouth shut, though it would be extremely beneficial for Sakura if she acquired everything she needed, Sayu pitied the young girl and hoped for the best and that Sakura got everything she wanted in the end.
Hopping from her chair Sakura gave Sayu a little wave and headed to the ninja section to pick out even more books, taijutsu, hand signs, weapons training this time, instead of the different type of weapons, vegetables and fruits, and finally anatomy.
Returning with her selection, Sakura patiently waited for Sayu to check out the five books so she could take them back to her alley, then the worst happened, the woman from before entered the library and let out a shriek of fury upon sighting Sakura checking out books.
Sakura turned her head to late and found herself trapped helplessly in the woman's arms "Let me go" she struggled uselessly, Sayu jumped to her feet and quickly got involved however the woman that held Sakura was insistent on finding Sakura's parents.
"If you do not unhand that child, I will call the Uchiha Police Force here" Sayu warned threateningly, though it did nothing to persuade the woman in loosening her grasp on the pinkette who was slowly beginning to get angry.
Hearing the arguments of the two women, Sakura finally had enough "STOP, I DON'T HAVE ANY PARENTS" she shouted angry tears in her eyes and a scowl on her lips, her cheeks were flushed a scorching red as she let out her temper.
Sayu cringed but thanks to that little outburst the woman relaxed her hold enough for Sakura to wriggle out of her grasp, Sayu immediately pulled the little girl to her side and Sakura sighed in relief "Now get out of my library" Sayu ordered.
"No, I demand to know who your parents are little girl" the woman, who's name was Asa demanded and Sakura remained stubbornly glued to Sayu's side, there was no way in heck she was ever letting the brown haired woman touch her again.
Sakura crossed her arms "Like I said, I don't have any parents" she snapped, the library went quiet at that, the occupants were all taking Sakura's side unbeknownst to her, Asa snarled and lunged forward but was stopped by a restraining hand on her shoulder.
"We've had problems with you in the past Asa-san, so I suggest you leave while you still have the ability to do so" an unfamiliar voice spoke and so doing as was suggested Asa turned and stomped her way from the library muttering curses the whole way.
Sayu sighed in relief "Thanks Uchiha-san" she nodded her head politely and Sakura did the same, not wanting to be rude to her savior the Uchiha looked down before chuckling and with a wave left the library so that it could return to its former peaceful state.
And so it went, every five days Sakura returned books before checking out more and when she had gotten all fifteen of her stamps, she proudly held up her card to Sayu, who giggled at the little girl and handed over the reward for doing such a wonderful job.
Sakura went home nearly three and a half months later and sat down to start drawing while her food cooked, thanks to all the reading she had gotten in, her food stock had grown massively now including much more than just fish, rabbit and herbs.
That night after drawing a pretty picture despite her poor penmanship, Sakura sealed everything away in her storage scroll, and crawled into her home of four months she laid her weary head on the rabbit skin pillow she had made and quickly fell asleep to the village noises.
