Sakura's Inheritance

The light snow from earlier had slowly gotten heavier since I left my adoptive mother's house and as I got onto the highway to head back towards the accursed mansion it was becoming a danger to my visibility. Luckily I got off the highway at the right exit and was soon going in the right direction.

"I hate this. The visibility is lessening by the minute, and I'm in a silver car with those LED headlights that are a bright white. This is almost asking to be run over in these near whiteout conditions, and most people wouldn't be driving in these conditions. Then again most people aren't out of a house for the night without any other choice but to go to a mansion in the country, that is inhabited with a childhood fear." I muttered to myself as I turned on the radio to give myself something else to focus on besides the white flurries outside my windows.

Less than ten minutes later I had arrived at the mansion and was driving up the long driveway. I parked in the same area as I had earlier and I got out of my car. The heavy sweater I still had on from earlier wasn't doing much good against the freezing cold snow or the wind chill. I had never kept many heavy jackets around my apartment because I never went out much and I was usually at work or home, never in-between for long enough to need one. Or so I had figured. I grabbed my groceries from inside the car, with the intentions of bringing them inside since this house likely didn't have any fresh foods left.

I quickly ran the distance in-between my car and the house, which was rather long for a pathway from the driveway to the front door. By the time I got to the door, my teeth were chattering and the key in my hand seemed colder than the air surrounding it, it was so cold it bit like the air around me. I fumbled with the lock for a bit until I could put the key in and turn it with my stiffening fingers. I stumbled through the front door with the groceries in hand and found myself immediately immersed in the warmth of the house.

They must have found the heater or something. I numbly thought as I was unsure whether the house would have a heater or a fireplace.

"Sakura! You're back!" Yelled Naruto. "I thought you were never going to come back when you left this morning." He quickly tackled me in a hug and immediately noticed how cold I was. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine…I just came here because my apartment is going under construction and I lost my keys to my adoptive parents' house. I refuse to stay with my only friend seeing as she'll find it to be an opportunity to force me to go on a date. This was the second safest option."

"Second?"

"Yes it was this or sleep in my car with the engine running, keys in the ignition, leaving the car and I prone to abduction. I decided I preferred the first option." I noticed how Naruto was still hugging me and I hadn't done anything about it. "Let me go Uzumaki-san."

"No. You're freezing and I can't let you become sick with me around."

"I'd rather take a warm bath."

"Sakura? Is that you?" Asked the other older blonde, the one I hadn't learned his name yet. "Naruto, get off Sakura, you're probably squishing her."

The man dragged me from Naruto's death hug and helped me to my feet.

"You're freezing, I thought you were cold to us this morning but this is ridiculous!"

"Really I'd just like to take a shower. You can ignore me as much as I do to you, just let me be!" I shouted trying to get my point through. I shrugged out of their grips and started to walk off in the assumed direction of a bathroom. "You can have the groceries, I couldn't leave them at my house or they'd be destroyed, and this house probably needs them more than mine anyway."

I continued walking past the others who had walked into the room after rushing to find out what the matter was. I wandered down a hallway or two until I found a bathroom with a shower. I closed and locked the door behind me and began to strip. I turned the hot water on and stepped in.

Oh man, I left my clothes in the car…I guess I wear my dirty clothes again…but they're cold…I'll worry about that later. I can't help but feel this house is familiar and these guys I can't help but feel safe with them. But they're complete strangers to me, why am I okay with staying with strangers? I mean I was probably brought to this house when I was really little, but I certainly wouldn't be able to remember from that long ago now could I?

I tried to remember my parents, this house, or anything that could explain why I could feel safe here. My first set of adoptive parents weren't ever kind to me at all so I pretty much became afraid of human contact. So I couldn't have met them in school or anytime after that. I couldn't even remember when I was taken from my family, so why would I remember anytime before that…

-Knock-Knock- a gentle knock could be heard from the bathroom door. I realized I had pretty much finished my shower and got out to wrap a towel around myself.

"Yes?"

"Haruno-san," answered a deeper voice I hadn't heard yet. "I've retrieved some of your bags from your car, do you wish for me to leave them outside the door for you?"

That was the first person to not call me "Sakura" or "Sakura-chan" so I was rather shocked. I must have stood silent for a while because the unrecognizable voice asked another question, this time in a more worried tone.

"Haruno-san, are you alright?" I could tell he was worried because of the slight change in the speed of his voice.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for retrieving my clothes for me. Yes, I would prefer for you to leave my clothes just outside the door."

I quickly stepped towards the door and unlocked it in time to see Sasuke's older brother walking down the hallway quietly. I grabbed my bag, which stood by my feet and ducked back inside the bathroom. I quickly got dressed in one of my few favorite relaxation outfits, a plain gray shirt and loose fitting black pants, simple but still enough to irritate Ino should she break into my house again.

I wonder how he knew which bag is mine…Well I guess its obvious, he probably opened the bag…but it didn't look like it had been searched though, I put all my pictures at the top…and they're still there…Is he just really neat and tidy? I don't know…

I walked back out into the corridor to smell food cooking. I ran through the hallways following the scent and soon found the kitchen, filled with the boys all cooking a meal for themselves, or so I figured. As soon as I entered the kitchen I only had intentions to steal an apple and retreat to an unused upstairs room, but as soon as I was returning to the kitchen door with the small red apple I had grabbed while no one was looking I heard someone talking to me.

"Sakura, where do you think you are sneaking off to with that apple?" Asked the older of the redheads, while smiling like he was remembering something funny. "As you can see supper is almost ready, so wouldn't that apple ruin your appetite?"

The longhaired blond playfully joined in, "Sakura, did you really expect to sneak through this kitchen, with eight men cooking in it for you, with just an apple and get away with it?"

"Yes, I did. Because I have no plan that includes joining you for dinner."

"Then you'll just have to make one, because you're not getting away from here without eating first!" Added a joyfully bouncing Naruto.

"I was planning on just eating an apple," was what I had planned to say but I was tackled by the two blondes and fell to the floor with them. Once there, they pinned me down and started tickling me. I tried to ignore the light goosing and poking I was going through, but the feeling finally grew and I had to laugh out loud. The floor was covered by the three of us, all tumbling around and laughing trying to tickle each other into submission, three adults literally rolling on the floor laughing. I couldn't believe I was doing this with the people I feared, but this somehow felt really familiar even though I couldn't remember why.

The laughter finally settled down as I took a deep breath shake the happiness out of my system, and wiped the tears my eyes had accumulated from laughing so hard. As I settled down I was offered two hands one from the older redhead and the other from Itachi, Sasuke's older brother. I grabbed both and they both helped me to my feet with little effort.

"So will you accept our dinner invitation, Haruno-san? If you don't we might just assume the responsibility of making sure you eat a proper meal and carry you to your seat." Asked Itachi in a voice that carried a tinge of humor though his facial expression never changed.

"Fine." I said in a defeated tone. "You'll probably follow me throughout the house without rest if I don't."

"That would likely happen considering the determination we all have for you to be safe."

I followed them all to the table, which had already been set by Kakashi ahead of time. I sat down in the chair near the middle of the table with Naruto and Sasuke to either side of me. We began the meal in a silence that stayed around until the middle of the meal where Naruto broke it.

"I just remembered! We never finished introducing ourselves!" He gave a quick look around the table and pointed at the longhaired blonde. "Why don't you start, Deidara?"

Deidara promptly stood up, brushed the stuck pieces of fallen rice off his pants and looked as if he was preparing himself for a speech. Finally he spoke. "My name is Deidara, as if you didn't already know because of Naruto's knuckle-headedness. I am 24 years old and an artist-"

"If you call playing with clay in your room, art, then yes he is an artist." Added the older red head.

Deidara simply ignored the comment. "I'd prefer not to talk of my past because that instant is gone, and another is already here."

"But it will always be there no matter how much you try and ignore it Deidara, that memory will be there, everlasting and forever."

Ignoring the comment again he continued. "I have moved onto explosives and-"

"Gunpowder laced clay of varying degrees, we've all heard it before Deidara, no examples this time."

"But-" Stuttered Deidara, the look on his face moving from a man proud of his work to that of a child told to stop during his show-and-tell.

"No, Deidara. You are not damaging this house anymore, remember what happened last time?"

"But there isn't a rabid chinchilla anywhere near here, and I can go get the portable blast shield from my room."

"No." That single word was said with such finality it silenced the entire room.

The older red head stood up and spoke. "I am Sasori Akasuna, I create works of art in the form of everlasting puppets. I believe my art is eternal and forever, therefore much better than Deidara's childish explosives. My parents left and never came back, simple as that."

"…"

The younger red head then stood up, the one who seemed to agree with Naruto in our argument. "My name is Gaara. I have no last name because I choose not to. My mother never wanted me and died at my birth. My father tried to have me killed repeatedly during my childhood. I have survived on simple luck and paranoia until Sarutobi found me. He has adopted all of us and had given us a home. I'm sorry Sakura for not being able to explain anymore than that."

"It's fine. I don't believe I know anymore than you do."

The second to last of all the guys stood up. He had flat black hair that a few stray bangs fell in front of his face, his skin was pale and seemed as if he had never seen the light of day. I hadn't seen him do anything during my stay he hadn't said anything; he hadn't chased me, or anything else.

"My name is Sai. I hope we can learn to tolerate each other. My history and past are unnecessary to be known." Said the boy in a flat and empty voice with a false smile plastered over his face.

That has got to be the shortest intro ever.

Itachi stood up and simply stated this. "My name is Itachi Uchiha. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you."

No… that was the shortest intro ever. It's rather obvious that I already know his story from his brother but really, these introductions just sort of petered out towards the end…I guess there really isn't anything to be learned about some of these people. I guess they're not scary anymore but I'm still going to be cautious about trusting them…I don't know why but I feel I know them already and that itself is scary to me for some reason.

"I'll be going to bed. See you in the morning."

~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~xxx~

Here's the next chapter! Sorry it's a bit of filler for now while I finish writing the next one. I had to split this part into two chapters, so there'll be more later on or in the morning.

Thank you for your 11 reviews so far…I know there are a bunch of you who at least visit this page and favorite the story or just simply look at it but I would really like it if you could comment if you like the story or not. It tells me whether I'm doing something wrong or not. So please do take the time to review. Thank you.