New and improved version of this story. Not sure it will be too long but you never know.
Enjoy the grammar changes :)
-NuteWelt01
Teacups clinked on the hardwood table between the two visitors. Rain prattled against the window, signaling the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. The warmth of the tea shop hadn't chilled the chip sitting on her shoulder or made the rage any less apparent as it simmered just above the surface. Emerald eyes glanced over the rim, already anticipating the matching set staring her down across the table. Pale lips moved without delay towards the pending topic,
"We..your father and I think, it would be a good idea that you start courting."
If Sakura felt pressured by her mother's expectations, she didn't show it. After surviving a war destined to destroy the world and the horrific memories that came with it, Sakura had played with the thought herself. Though, if her mother knew, she would take advantage of the confession - possibly bother her even more than she does now. Sadly, before the war, her parents and the idea of sending their child resulted in a brief falling out. Compared to now, Sakura knew throwing out the idea of courting was their way of keeping her in the village. The prospect of being married led to cages without a key for women her age.
Setting down the teacup gently, Sakura crossed her fingers together over the table. The action hadn't deterred Mebuki as Sakura hoped, but it did put the older woman on edge.
"Why do I need to get married, Mother?" Straight forward and reluctant, a steely gaze met Mebuki's eyes with determination - one she shouldn't undermine. Their stare-off continued in a moment of silence. A waitress walked over, asking if the two would like a refill. Ignored on the spot, the waitress took Mebuki's cup that had grown cold.
-
"You're my only daughter. Are you going to run around protecting the village for the rest of your life?"
Then it dawned on Sakura, despite Mebuki's conviction to get her daughter on the "right track," her daughter could see through the desperation. It was all her mother's doing, and her father probably hadn't said anything about Sakura getting married.
She waited, thinking of a way to strike her mother where it hurt the most because with everything going on during the reconstruction period in the village- Sakura would not make time for fantasies.
"Protecting the village and its occupants is the job I've been entrusted with as one of the top medics and kunoichi in Konoha. So yes, Mother, I will run around protecting the village for the rest of my life."
She tried to be frank but added on the latter piece of information before Mebuki could refute any efforts of how important her standing impacted the safety of the villagers. Her mother included, but she was starting to question that.
"And if I hadn't, you and Papa would be dead. I'm sorry I care enough to put my life on the line and wouldn't back down because my mother expects a naive, obedient daughter to the intelligent and hard-working woman she raised. You are a civilian and made your bed long ago. I am a kunoichi. We have two different paths, and I'm not willing nor trying to jump on yours."
The same emerald eyes constricted in hurt, struck by Sakura's effort to deter any advantage Mebuki thought would work. She did not have an advantage in the first place because there was nothing she could say to that - a calculated move meant to scar. Mebuki resisted the urge to sip the cold cup of tea on the table to cover the defining hue of red on her face.
Repressing a grin that made her insides turn sour, Sakura took one last sip from her tea, tasting the bitter leaves on her tongue. She couldn't look at her mother this time. The disappointment reflected in her stiff form should be enough.
"I thought you would have been proud of me by now. I'm the most renowned doctor on the continent, run a hospital, make medical breakthroughs, and have saved countless lives in and outside the village."
Her gaze turned to her mother, finding it hard to hide the resentment burning there. It had for a long time since Sasuke defected then came back into team seven's lives. Since the time the Uchiha clan rejoined the village, and were honored for their sacrifices. Ever since she came home beaten down from a brawl with her boys, Mebuki tried drawing the line over and over again.
"Yet every time, you tell me it is not enough, not even close."
Mebuki couldn't keep her mouth from falling open. She was proud of her daughter and everything she did, but she was afraid of what would happen if she never returned home as a ninja for the village. What if Sakura was lost out there? What if no one found her? Mebuki wouldn't know what to do if something happened to Sakura. She was trying to prevent the inevitable from happening, and her daughter didn't see it.
"Sakura, I am proud of you! I am so proud of your achievements, but this ninja business has to stop. One day you could walk out the village gates, and I might not see you again. Marriage settles a person down, it-"
"I know, Mother. I know what marriage does to a person, but have you ever thought that I do not want to get married? That I am happy giving my life to the village because that is what I've signed up for?"
A pin could drop then. There weren't that many people in the shop, but some turned their heads towards the commotion. Sakura and Mebuki's voices were catching wind where it did not need to be. People in the village never caught a whiff of the medics' personal life outside widely known facts about Team Seven. Somehow it became taboo to gossip about Sakura after a young man attempted to woo her with information he heard through the grapevine. It did not work, and till this day, he avoids Sakura at all costs.
"I…" Mebuki's eyes were growing wide this time.
"Forcing me into a loveless marriage does not change anything. It wouldn't make me grateful to you or happy. I know you are afraid for me, but springing a life-changing decision on your daughter will not get you anywhere. Marriage is not like the old ages where you can lock me in a house and say I can't go out."
Sakura leaned forward, making a point in her following statement.
"I'm not a little girl anymore. I will always be your daughter, but you have disrespected every decision I have made thus far in my career because it does not fit your expectations for how a 'woman' conducts herself through life." Sakura spat the last words in disdain.
It was intriguing to be an adult inside a progressive village where women from some perspectives expect younger women to follow the lifestyle of a homemaker. Sakura never faulted women who wanted that sort of life. By all means, be a housewife and raise a family, but Sakura knew 'the -stay-at-home' lifestyle was not meant for her. After achieving groundbreaking science protocols for the advancement of human health issues, Sakura had found her 'calling' in every aspect of the profession. Nothing beats surgery on weekdays with late nights partying away with friends or an excellent book on the sofa. She had to learn different aspects about herself when no one told her how, outside of being a ninja. Naruto and Sasuke had a more demanding lifestyle, piled with expectations since birth. But her, little ol' Sakura, could mess up without a care in the world and never know what it feels like to want for anything. If she didn't choose a ninja's life, then apply to be Tsunade's apprentice, the pink-haired wonder everyone in the village respects would have been a nobody. She would be the type of daughter Mebuki strived to mold into an image of modesty and simplicity. Sakura would have never known to push the envelope to achieve the impossible.
Setting the teacup further from her hands, Sakura stood from her seat, staring her mother down, who looked caught and unaware of what she had unleashed. No matter how many times this subject sneaked its way into every conversation, Sakura understood this would be the last time she would have it. She wasn't a people pleaser anymore.
"From now on, I am no longer your daughter."
Suddenly the clatter of a teacup slipping from its place on the table shattered across the ground. Mebuki was standing with her purse clutched to her side, shaking like a leaf when the wind was too harsh. Other patrons looked in their direction as the waitress rushed over with a broom.
"Wait, Sakura, we can talk about this." The desperation was there, stirring up the obscene words spouted earlier during tea time. Sakura withheld her temper on several occasions outside the current encounter with her mother. It was awkward walking into the civilian district without some elderly women whispering in the stores with reproachable looks. A fist curled on the table at the thought of ever becoming a gossiping hussy with no life outside worrying about marriageable prospects.
" My time is precious. Spending it every few weeks in arguments with you is meaningless. It is disconcerting the level of surveillance you have tried securing in hopes that I am caught with a man so that you can badger me into a marriage. Or the thought that if I show the slightest interest in someone who is ONLY a friend, their parents are speaking to me about an omai suddenly."
Sakura didn't mean to raise her voice. Compared to the weeks she endured dodging unwelcome attention in the civilian district, the duration of the session has worn her patience thin. A cruel intention grasped her tongue meant to shatter her mother into pieces. Holding it in, Sakura was satisfied with the inaudible gulp coming from the woman who birthed her. Taking a sweeping look around the room Sakura was reminded of their environment. How they weren't alone.
Sakura mentally cursed at the cafe goers growing stiff by the second. Her lips screwed themselves into a deeper frown than before. Damn the patrons staring in horror at the glowing fist of chakra taking effect. Damn the shattered glass slowly swept into a pan while the waitress scuttled away from the pending animosity brewing in the background. Damn the day Haruno Sakura's business within her family became public knowledge. Taking every angle in, Sakura sighed quietly. Mebuki looked stuck, uncertain which move could be her last by the look on Sakura's face.
"This is not a warning but a promise."
As Sakura's gaze rose in challenge, she leaned away, dropping into a relaxed stance. Her change in character was unexpected. The expression of empty eyes rendered Mebuki speechless. She didn't recognize the young woman, her daughter, standing there looking akin to a stranger. Sakura paused, taking in reddened features of the woman who gave birth to her. Some sick part found satisfaction in the startling downward curl of thin lips and a furrowed brow. She would imprint the day in her memory and lock away the key.
Slipping from the table's wooden structure, Sakura didn't look back, walking straight out of the shop. The overhead bell rang softly, signaling the departure of a customer.
Footsteps hurried up the steep stairway, nearly tripping over the leather flats strapped across her feet. Hastily the older woman huffed at the exertion it took to climb the rest of the way towards the Hokages office. Mebuki passed a couple of Jounin speaking in passing. There wasn't time to sneer at the likes of their profession as she busied herself by speed walking through the halls until stopping at two wooden double doors. Both hands pressed them apart, uncaring of how rude she seemed. There was a critical discussion she needed to have despite the ongoing momentum of village politics.
Once the light of the windows cleared, the squint in her eyes grew before her form was bowing lowly. The village elders sat opposite of Tsunade, who did not seem pleased by the interruption. Both looked at the Hokage with varying degrees of disapproval, but Tsunade was not swayed in the slightest. An Anbu guard standing at her side moved in front of the Hokage with a hand on his hilt. The mask in the shape of a hawk gleamed under the dying sun, highlighting their mask's ocular circles. A hooded stare leveled on the bent form of Mebuki waiting for an order.
"May I help you, Ms. Haruno?" a voice thundered across the room, calm but irritated.
Gritting her teeth, Mebuki stayed bent at the waist, reframing herself from seething out the words. The grip on her purse tightened at the thought of being at the Hokages mercy.
What was she thinking barging in unannounced? A flash of cold emerald eyes and her daughter's last words reminded the mother why.
" I need an immediate audience with you."
"Go to the front desk to schedule-"
Mebuki righted herself in the opportune moment; emerald eyes raged with tears forgetting there was an audience opposite the Hokage, "This is about Sakura. You're her teacher - so make time!"
What do you think? Personally, I've always wanted to write a story about Sakura's perspective in marriage.
Until the next chapter!
-NuteWelt01