Chapter Two

A/N: Hey! Sorry for the late update! Enjoy the chapter..

Uchiha Mikoto stared contemplatively into her cup of warm matcha as she waited for her friend to join her. She took a slow sip as the older, refined looking woman playing the koto started a slow melody, the music setting a nice atmosphere that complemented the elegant café.

The large floor length windows showed the bustling streets of Konoha as people milled around in thick layers, mittens and close toed shoes to accommodate the mid-winter chill. She leaned back into her chair as her barely there baby bump grew uncomfortable in her previous position, sighing thankfully when she caught a flash of crimson red hair through the crowds heading her way.

"Can I get you anything else Uchiha-san?"

Mikoto turned her gaze to the server with long dark hair that stood smiling softly at her and couldn't help but to smile back.

"Yes—," she glanced at the name tag pinned to the fine blue yukata that all the staff wore, "Sumiko-san, I'll need two cups of hot chocolate please"

Sumiko nodded, giving a short, polite bow before heading for a hallway passed the front counter. The bell over the glass doors jingles softly as it was opened, Uzumaki Kushina walking in hand-in-hand with a toddler with dark hair and equally dark eyes.

"Mikoto-chan!!"

She beamed happily, violet eyes glittering as she spotted her friend and immediately headed to her table.

Mikoto giggled as her best friend dropped her son into a seat before taking one herself. "Kushina," Mikoto greeted before turning to her quiet son with a gentle smile.

"Itachi-chan, did you enjoy the library?"

"Yes Okaa-sama, Kushina-baa showed me the clan wars section and I learnt about the Senju clan," as Itachi spoke his eyes glittered with excitement as he peered up at his mother with a soft smile in his baby cheeks. Mikoto couldn't help herself but to stroke his soft, chubby cheeks as Kushina cackled uproariously.

"He's a sweet talker I tell you, girls are gonna fawn all over him alright! Tamaki the librarian kept letting his hair when he went up to her to ask about her job!", Kushina filled in enthusiastically as her godson blushed in embarrassment.

"Stop teasing him Kushina! It's alright 'Tachi-chan, there's nothing to be embarrassed about", Mikoto tried to placate her son as Sumiko returned and dropped cups of hot chocolate for the two new arrivals at the table.

"Welcome to Kadoshi Teas and Bakery, is there anything you need?" She recited cheerily as her customers sipped at their drinks.

Kushina grinned and leaned forward, her fingers tapping on the table, "we'll be needing a privacy seal, and I'll have a slice of your chocolate cheese cake, with some fresh strawberries".

Sumiko nodded before dropping a small wooden disk with kanji carved into it's surface at the center of the table, Kushina reached forward to pump a trickle of chakra into the seal and watched it activate.

Kadoshi' was a popular shinobi-friendly café that was frequented by even the prickly Uchiha and Hyuuga clans, the Yamanaka clan were also one of the Bakery's primary suppliers for fragrant tea leaves. The privacy seals and enticing baked goods were too good to pass up for most shinobi who needed either a casual place to hang out, or a formal tea room to converse quietly. The rumors about the owner, a young woman of lightening country descent, Toshiba Koyuki were numerous, everyone knew her as the inventive woman who created all her patent recipes herself and didn't share her them.

Mikoto called back their server as she made go leave, "I'll have a slice of the citrus cake, and my son will have a small fruit tart, thank you"

Sumiko nodded attentively before excusing herself, and Kushina turned to face her friend as the wide grin on her face fell away. Mikoto on noticing the change, reached out to grasp her friends hand as she turned her sharp gaze onto her.

"What is it Kushina?"

"I'm getting a divorce"

Revised on 06/03/22

~Violent Scribbler