Sakura munched quietly on her food, Mikoto had made a splendid meal -though it was more like a feast. There were kashi pans stacked in a pile next to a platter of different finger foods. A large salad with extra tomatoes was on an equally large plate and each of them had a bowl filled with soup in front of them. The Uchiha clan Matriarch was still finishing off the rest of the food in the kitchen but in the meanwhile they were all sitting round the dining table, enjoying the food that was already set out for them.
The pinkette dipped the sweet bread roll into her soup and bit into it. She had to admit, she had missed Mikoto's cooking terribly since the last time she had tasted it. Then again, she had only ever sat down for dinner at the Uchiha main family's house once before and that was on the day she met them. She took another bite of the the roll, savouring the taste of the red bean paste that filled the inside.
"You seem to like those Chibi-chan!" Shisui's voice interupted her 'silent food enjoying time'.
"Mhm.." She hummed back in response.
"Well, at least you're not going after all the tomatoes in the salad, Sasu-cakes would fume if you ate them all." He looked at his youngest cousin who appeared to have not heard him. The young duckbutt haired boy was stuffing several cherry tomatoes inside his mouth, causing his cheeks to bulge. "Then again I hardly believe there will be any left in a few moments."
Sakura followed his gaze just in time to see some tomato juices escape from Sasuke's mouth. The young pinkette's nose scrunch up in disgust before she turned her attention back to the roll of bread she was holding in her hand. She took another bite out of it and just as she was about to take the last bite Mikoto entered the room. She placed down the dish in her hand before disappearing back into the kitchen. It was only a few moments later when she came back with another plate of food and this time she sat down at the table instead of going back into the kitchen.
She smiled pleasantly at Sakura before picking up a kashi pan and dunking it into her soup. Sakura moved her gaze to the food that the Uchiha clan Matriarch had just brought in and almost instantly felt her mouth water. Several sticks of Tebasaki Yakitori were layed out on a plate, free for any one of them to take. The other dish the woman had just brought in was Teriyaki Chicken, the meat of the dish was on the plate whilst still hot rice was in a bowl.
The young pinkette dished out a portion of rice and some chicken along with a few vegetables before she began eating the food. It was silent for a while before Mikoto cleared her throat.
"So, how was work today?" The dark haired woman asked her husband. The man swallowed the food in his mouth before looking up and meeting his wife's gaze.
"It was fine." The woman's eyes seemed to harden at the man's short reply.
"Right." Her eyes closed as she smiled, "What about you Sasuke-kun? Did you have fun at the park?" The duckbutt haired boy looked up, he was halfway through the action of stuffing a particularly large tomato inside his mouth.
"Err.." He looked away from his mother before lowering his left arm- of which was the arm of the hand he held his precious tomato in. "Yeah.. I guess?"
His bows furrowed before a mischievous smirk made its way onto his face. His dark eyes moved and he caught his cousin's equally dark orbs. Shisui's eyes widened and he made a serious of peculiar actions. He made an X with his arms as he shook his head and closed his eyes. His nostrils flared and his gaze seemed to become more intense as Sasuke opened his mouth.
"Oh! Also Shisui was.." There was what seemed to be a pause but for some reason Sakura felt as if only she and Shisui had noticed it. "a really important part in some kids' game!"
The preteen let out the breath he had been unknowingly holding in and his shoulders sagged. Itachi's sharp eyes caught the movement and he blinked.
"Really?" The Uchiha Matriarch turned her attention to the curly haired boy. "What game were they playing?"
"Erm.." The boy tensed.
"They were playing hide and seek! None of them wanted to be the seeker though so Shisui volunteered."
"Really? That's so nice of you, Shisui-kun!" Mikoto smiled at the boy.
"Err.. yeah.." The curly haired boy looked down at his plate before stuffing a kashi pan inside his mouth.
"Did you play with them too, Sasuke-kun?" The woman looked at her youngest son who opened his mouth to respond. Before he could though, Shisui answered in his place.
"Oh yes!" Sasuke glared at him whilst Itachi looked faintly disgusted by the food spewing out of his mouth. "Sasu-cakes joined in too! He got quite angry after a while though since a blonde haired girl kept on winning."
"Shisui, please don't talk with your mouth full." Mikoto reprimanded. The preteen muttered a muffled apology before swallowing the food in his mouth.
Sakura just silently listened to the admittedly odd conversation as she ate her food. The pinkette hated to admit it but she was missing Inner. It was extremely quiet without her other half screaming and commenting on everything and the four- nearly five year old- felt lonely without Inner's presence. Sure, her shadow was still alive but whenever one of them receded back to depths of their mind the one who was in control of their body couldn't feel the other's presence unless they too travelled back.
'I feel like I've been thinking about Inner more then usual lately..' She sighed, it was probably only to be expected since she very rarely was without Inner's snarky comments and loud personality. Her other half had always been a big part of her life. Inner Sakura was like a pillar, a constant source of support. "Maybe I'm just thinking about her a lot because I'm eating without her constantly drooling and begging to take control.."
"Hm? Sakura-chan, did you say something?" The little pinkette's head shot up and emerald green met kind obsidian. Mikoto Uchiha was looking at her with concern clearly etched on her face. The young girl mustered up a smile and replied with a quiet 'yes'.
"Have you done anything interesting since we last saw you?"
"Erm.." Pink eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Well.. my Aunt and her husband came to visit. They stayed in the village for about a week but left last night."
Sakura slid a piece of chicken off its skewer using her mouth and munched on it.
"Oh? Were they staying at your house?"
"No, they were staying at an Inn but they only really went their at night."
"What's your Aunt's name?" Sasuke asked, joining in on the conversation.
"Her name is Yui. She's really nice but she tends to act like a mother hen.." Sakura slid another piece of chicken off the wooden stick and chewed the meat as Shisui joined in on the questioning.
"Which of your parents is she related to?" That question made her blink and once the words had processed in her mind she froze as her heart sank. Her chest was filled with grief as the topic of her parents was once again brought up. She licked her lips of which were suddenly extremely dry. Her green eyes were distant it wasn't until someone poked her arm that she was brought back to the present.
"You ok Sakura-chan?" She looked at Sasuke and nodded her head, clearing her throat.
"Hai, I'm fine." She swallowed, turning her attention to the curly haired Uchiha. "Yui-obasan isn't related to either of my parents. She's just a close friend of my mother's whom I call my Aunt."
Shisui nodded in understanding and Sakura slid the final piece of chicken off the skewer and into her mouth. The faint tang of lime made her taste buds sing, making up for the lack of sauce to go along with the chicken. She was sure that if Inner was in her place she would be worshipping Mikoto's cooking.
"By the way Sakura-chan, what jobs do your parents have?" The long haired female asked the young girl.
Sakura inhaled deeply before shakily exhaling. She might as well tell the family that her parents were no longer alive but then part of her didn't want to tell them. It wasn't really any of their business and she didn't know them all particularly well. She had only ever seen them a few times and she would rather that less people knew about her parents' death then more.
"Merchants.. my parents w-are merchants." She swallowed hoping that no one noticed her mistake. "They tend to leave the village a lot so I'm usually left in the care of one of our neighbours or if one of my parent's friends are available they will take care of me."
Her parents actually hadn't left the village since she was born. They just had their produce that came from different villages delivered to them and sold their goods in the market. Usually her mother stayed at home with her whilst her father went to the market to work.
She heard a small sound come from where the Uchiha Clan patriarch was seated and frowned in confusion. She couldn't help but wonder if he was belittling her because of her background.
"It must be lonely having to spend so much time without either of your parents. If you want, Sakura-chan, you could always come round here, I'm sure Sasuke-kun would enjoy your company as well!" Said boy flushed and grumbled something under his breath.
"Thank you for your kindness Mikoto-san but I wouldn't want to bother you any more then I have already."
"Nonsense Sakura-chan! You haven't been any trouble at all!" The kind woman smiled and Sakura couldn't help a small one of her own.
"Yeah! Besides, if you come round every day that means that we'll be able to see each other like- every day!" Sasuke, who seemed to have recovered from his earlier embarrassment, cheered. The tomato loving boy had a bright grin on his young face as he looked at his pink haired friend.
"Erm.." Sakura hesitated.
"She can't come round every day. As the main family of the Uchiha clan we have responsibility. Itachi has missions to go on and I have meetings to attend. Sasuke, you don't have time to spend your days running around the house and going to the park, you need to start preparing for the Academy." The Uchiha clan patriarch responded before the pinkette had a chance to even open her mouth.
The four year old boy's expression turned sullen and he bowed his head.
"But Nii-san is always training and stuff and so he doesn't always have time to train me.." His voice was barely a whisper but in the silent house the boy's words were crystal clear to everyone's ears.
Sakura saw Itachi's eyes soften slightly as he gazed at his younger brother. The pinkette guessed that the eight year old regretted not having time to spend with the duckbutt haired boy and that he wished that he had more time to be with Sasuke.
'It must be hard being a prodigy in such a highly respected clan; especially since he's the clan heir as well.' The pinkette honestly felt bad for Itachi, he must be under a lot of stress.
"You can't always rely on Itachi to help you train. You need to do it when he's not around as well." Fugaku told his son firmly.
Sakura frowned. She didn't exactly like the brunette's tone, it was as if he was shouting demands at his child rather then making suggestions. The way he worded his sentences proved this further and the little pinkette held back a scowl.
"Now, now." Mikoto chimed in. "Now is not the time to be discussing such things, we wouldn't want to bore poor Sakura-chan now would we?"
The woman's dark orbs met Sakura's and she smiled at the younger girl.
"You are welcome to come round any time, please don't mind my husband, he doesn't mean to be rude." Sakura shook her head.
"No, it's fine. I completely understand actually, being the head family of such a notorious clan means that you are looked up to. Your actions affect the rest of your clan and so you often have to watch the way you act and have to keep up a certain.. erm front? I'm not sure if there's a better word for it but I know that erm.." She hesitated on how to address the brown haired man. Should she call him by his first name or last? Which honorific would be appropriate? She hated the idea of using 'sama' to address the man for she preferred to reserve that for people whom she actually respected. Though she did have some level of respect for the man, he hadn't been acting particularly pleasant around her nor had he gone out of his way to actually make conversation with her. She also felt kind of uncomfortable with calling him 'Uchiha-sama' since that felt slightly awkward and she felt as if only complete strangers would address him as such. 'Then again,' she mused. "I am technically only an acquaintance of his..'
Seeming to pick up on her internal conflict, Mikoto spoke up. "Never the less, please do not refrain from coming round, we would be honored to have you over."
Sakura bowed her head to the woman in thanks. The six continued eating in an uncomfortable silence until Shisui piped up.
"Y'know Sasu-cakes, if 'Tachi-chan's ever out on a mission and I'm still in the village you could always come to me for some training."
"Yeah, no thanks." The boy replied almost immediately. "I doubt that you're in the village more often then nii-san."
Sakura looked at Shisui only to blink in mild surprise when she saw that he had returned to eating his food. She had expected some sort of reaction to be visible on the curly haired Uchiha's face but it seemed that he hadn't bothered to even look up from his food. A crease formed between her eyebrows.
'Ever since.. erm.. Fugaku.. erm Uchiha.. ahh gosh! I'll just refer to him as Fugaku-san since it feels odd calling him 'Uchiha' when I know several other Uchihas. Anyway, since he spoke up the atmosphere has changed dramatically..' She pursed her lips, 'I wonder why.. I mean, I know he has a lot of power or whatever but this is seriously frustrating! Gahh! My head hurts!' A pout formed on her face as her frown deepened. She rubbed her forehead and scowled before taking another bite of her food.
A/N: Hello there my dear readers! I am very sorry for not updating in like forever but as some of you may have noticed I have changed my updating schedule. I have currently published three stories (including this one) and will soon be publishing another one. I was originally publishing three times a week and although I was managing it I can't keep it up. As a result I now have my new schedule!
I will be updating on a regular basis during holidays (Tuesday- The Haruno Clan's Blossom; Thursday- Out of Place; and Saturday- Sakura Haruno (Child Prodigy)) and shall be trying my best to at least update once a week when it is not a holiday.
I hope this makes sense and I'm once again sorry for not publishing sooner. I didn't have much motivation and was struggling quite a bit.
Barry Otter? Shannaro! Will be out soon and I hope you guys enjoy it!
I also want to say a special hello to HelloWorld who I hope is reading this. She is a close friend of mine who has recently closed her account on Wattpad. I miss you and hope you are ok! 3
Please let me know what you thought about this chapter, your reviews make me more motivated!
Sorry for any mistakes!
Hope you enjoyed!