A/N: Hi! Some things to note
1st Half Ages: (Note: They don't have the same age difference here as in the manga)
Sakura and Sasuke: 6 years old
Itachi: 8 yrs old
Shisui: 10 yrs old
Obito: 12 yrs old
Izuna: 14 yrs old
Madara: 16 yrs old
2nd Half Ages:
Sakura and Sasuke: 12 years old
Itachi: 14 yrs old
Shisui: 16 yrs old
Obito: 18 yrs old
Izuna: 20 yrs old
Madara: 22 yrs old
Happiness is a butterfly,
try to catch it like every night
It escapes from my hands into the moonlight...
Sakura was not an Uchiha, not yet at least.
Too young to understand loss and grief, a 6-year-old Sakura watched as her grandmother made incense offerings to two altars in her childhood home. She is vaguely aware of what is happening but emotions don't flood her, she only smiles fondly at her father's Goofy grin and her mother's fond smile displayed for everyone in their spacious living room. As far as she was concerned, they'd be back from their trip next week, like Otouchan had pinky promised. And pinky promises were not to be taken lightly.
The wake had been a quiet affair, filled with men with crisp black suits and women in their Mofuku (Ha! Etiquette lessons were paying off! She knows all types of Kimono now Chichihue would be so proud of her right), she is being dragged along by her Oba-chan, to and fro people. Her Baa-chan taught her how to bow and greet guests earlier, her normally gentle visage distant. Sakura had always liked to excel at things taught to her so she bowed and greeted guests in her new black dress her Baachan had tailor-made for her.
Her Papa and Mama's friends coo at her and her impeccable manners, but all of them seemed sooo sad that she wonders if they weren't really that impressed with her. I want to see Chichihue, she frowns, and immediately her mood sours. But Baa-chan smiles down at her, pride in her pale green eyes as she murmurs quietly to her while they walk towards a group of men in the Haruno House's engawa. It was weird to shuffle quietly like this around her house when she was so used to running freely in these halls.
"Sakura-chan, we will be greeting Uchiha-sama and his clan next. Now, it is with utmost importance that we receive him properly, the family owes him and the Uchiha clan a great debt you see. Remember to mind your manners young lady"
She nods at her Baa-chan and does her very best at greeting the people at her door. The man leading the group, Tajima-sama (as she would later come to know), had nodded approvingly at her. She smiles brightly at him, and the man's eyes seem to shift, unable to look into her own.
Clearing his throat he gestures vaguely at her,
"Is she little Sakura-chan…?"
"Yes Uchiha-sama, this is Kizashi-kun's little Sakura, she has grown up to a fine young lady since the last you saw of her..."
Her Baa-chan seems even sadder now, her eyes downcast. Tajima nods as he finds her eyes once again before following her Baachan. After a moment the rest of the men shuffle inside to pay their respects. She sees a few younger boys trailing obediently behind Tajima, and bow to them with equal respect as she ushers them inside much like her Baachan has been doing, all the while beaming her best smile. That's right, she has grown up!, a little lady just like what her Baachan said.T
They smile at her too! And she waves shyly at them when she realizes how cute and taller all of them were. In no time at all, she is playing with the younger ones. Sasuke-kun, Itachi-kun and Shisui-kun in her Chichihue's beautiful garden. She is grateful for them, they were the only ones who weren't sad and serious and wanted to play with her.
When they leave she respectfully bows to Tajima-sama and waves enthusiastically to the boys, "Let's Play again next time okay?" She had gleefully shouted this out to her playmates for the afternoon.
The next few months a car is being sent to the Haruno house to take her to and fro the Uchiha's big big house every weekend (Even bigger than the Haruno Manor, and their family estate had stables and a Sakura grove for private Hanami). Her grandmother seems glad that Tajima-sama likes her, and she plays with Sasuke-kun, Itachi-kun and Shisui-baka (he had been demoted to Baka for teasing her too much) all afternoon to her heart's content. Sometimes Madara-oniichan and Izuna-kun would drop by, Obito-kun too but those instances were few and far between. But when they did, they brought her fancy sweets because they had an allowance as Sasuke-kun would bitterly remark while rolling his eyes.
She likes this because her weekends usually meant tea ceremonies and boring shamisen lessons from really grumpy old people. She likes this because in the weekends she was too distracted from the sinking suspicion she had that her Otou-chan and Chichihue were never coming back.
Tajima-sama always looks at her fondly in the even rarer moments he is present at the manor, or while in the black car when he sometimes comes to pick her up.
Just like your father, the older man would mumble while chuckling at her little accidents (curse her clumsiness!) that never seemed to irk him. If she spilled this much tea and broke this much fine China back at home her grandmother would have given her a spanking with her bamboo whips and would've delegated her more hours for Shamisen and Piano practice.
Tajima-sama asks her offhandedly one afternoon if she how she is liking the Uchiha manor and her time there. She enthusiastically proclaims her love for the sprawling grounds, the yummy sweets (that no one seemed to limit her consumption of),
"Best of all, I've always wanted big brothers to play with!"
She drones on and on, counting the reasons with her chubby fingers, about how fun Sasuke-kun's toys and puzzles were even though he can be cranky sometimes, how funny Itachi-kun and Shisui-Baka's contests were, that Obito-niichan introduces her to cute cats all the time with his friends Kakashi-niichan and Rin-chan (she's sooo pretty, Obito-niichan has this huge crush on her!), how delicious Madara-Nii-chan and Izuna-Nii-chan's treats were and how they taught her how to play 'businessmen' all the time (which was mostly them sitting in a table while shaking their heads, 'brainstorming' and grumbling like the old men with their arms crossed, making each other sign contracts and then tearing said contracts at each other's faces).
Tajima snorts at that, shaking his head fondly at his rowdy bunch's antics.
"I also really like it when Tajima-sama picks me up from my house…" Tajima pauses at the sudden change of her tone to regard her fully.
"Baachan is always sad, and I don't like putting on heavy kimono every time I have to do a tea ceremony...and.. And Chichihue and Otou-chan are still gone…When you come to pick me up, I know It'll only be fun..."
When she starts to tear up at the thought of her parents Tajima-sama ruffles her hair,
"Sakura-chan… Do you want to live in the mansion then? have all of them be your actual brothers?"
"Really? I could do that?" Tajima-sama was blowing her mind right now. That much fun, every single day? not just on the weekends? No more stuffy classes with grumpy adults who she cared to impress less and less these days? She could only look at him with stars in her eyes.
"Off course.. You'll have your own room in the house, if you'd like I can be your Otouchan number 2, I am your father's good friend after all...I promise I'll take good care of you..."
He smiles at her and holds out his pinky, and Sakura knew then and there that he meant it. Looping his pinky with hers she gasped in horror remembering something important.
"What about Baachan?! I can't leave her alone!"
Turns out, Baachan is more than ecstatic when Tajima-sama formally asks to adopt her into his clan. She is giddy and the happiest Sakura has ever seen her in the past few months as she packs Sakura's dresses and kimonos with the rest of the help.
"You were originally slated to be one of those boy's fiances, you know...Those little playdates were originally to see who would be most compatible with you. That had been what my dear Kizashi-kun and Tajima-sama had agreed upon but Sakura-chan, this is even better for you, my dear girl!"
"What's a F-fiansey? " she mutters to herself.
Her Obaachan breathes a dreamy sigh and goes on with her rant, while her attendants shared her glee and agreed enthusiastically with the matriarch.
"I had been worried if the agreement would still push through, with what happened…But now you're future is guaranteed, you're a proper Uchiha heiress and our families are forever bonded, Gods my dear, I can scarcely believe that Tajima-sama would be this generous!"
"Well, Didn't his wife pass relatively early in their marriage Haruno-sama?" Kana, One of her grandmother's attendants chimed in while carefully wrapping her kimono in parchment.
"I heard they ended up with that many boys because he was adamant for a single Uchiha daughter at least, the poor thing died from birthing little Sasuke-sama.." another attendant, Kikyo whispered. The other attendants murmured and tittered among themselves with the gossip they themselves knew about the Uchiha patriarch.
"No matter the reason, our dear Sakura-chan is the perfect little lady for them," cutting them off her grandmother remarked with pride in her eyes for her.
"Aren't you Sakura-chan?" Sakura could only frown at that, worrying what will happen if she messes up but nods anyways at her grandmother.
"Hai, Obaachan."
Her room in the Uchiha manor is even prettier than her old room. This one is pink and she sleeps on an actual bed, not a futon. A bed with pink curtains and fluffy bears, fluffy carpets not tatami mats. She is enrolled in the same private school as the rest of her brothers, vastly different from her homeschooling with strict tutors and traditional befriends Naruto, and Ino and the others in that school.
She even forgets that she is waiting for her Otouchan and Chichihue to return because as she grows Tajima-sama becomes her actual Otou-sama. Her birthdays are always fun but private affairs, there is always cake and lots of sweets and her brothers are always all present.
She finds that she is the only one who gets away with her clumsiness and mischievousness, Otou-sama would never yell at her or be mad for too long, a well-timed smile or pout was the only thing it took to forgive her.
She loves her brothers and she knows they love her. For a while, Otou-sama's promise was holding up.
She doesn't know exactly when she noticed the shift in their household and in her life. But Sakura suspects that things went downhill when Tajima passes.
She is 12 when she herself is being dressed into an Uchiha Mofuku for his wake. She hadn't been able to summon the same childish detachment she had when she was younger and in her first set of parents' funerals. She had sobbed hysterically the night Madara-oniichan broke the news to her and barely kept it together at his service, no happy smiles and pristine manners, She supposed that was because she hadn't understood as a kid what it meant to be dead.
Her brothers didn't force her to meet or greet any of their late father's friends and colleagues, they thought her too tender and too fragile with grief, she was, after all, their beloved Imouto who had been their strict father's princess.
Madara-oniichan had spearheaded the family through the tremendous loss and took over their late father's duties, the rest of her brothers took up more responsibility as well. Noone had the time to mourn their father, things needed to be done.
An accident, that was what killed her beloved Otou-sama they said. Car-accident. The very same way in which her parents left her. Nobody discussed specifics with her. When, where. No police investigation, no newspaper articles.
As she picked up her Otousama's bones with chopsticks, passing them to her brothers after his cremation for them to place in his urn, she idly wondered which bone belonged to his pinky. It's the only thought that runs through her mind during the suffocating silence of the kotsuage, and her brother's concerned faces on her.
The Uchiha compound after that became more heavily guarded, only Uchiha were allowed in and out. Sasuke-kun began to follow her like a shadow more than he already has. Itachi-Niichan is much more strict with their itineraries and she is no longer allowed to have sleepovers with Ino or even attend the regionals match with the Taekwondo club. She had come to understand that the Uchiha were a far more private family than any clan of their caliber. Even the Hyuugas and the others constantly had parties and galas to network, come to think of it that even all of the Uchiha birthdays was always a private affair between the immediate family only, while Ino's and even Shikamaru's were a big opportunity for the richest in japan to mingle, and only she and Sasuke-kun had been the ones to attend. Her family never saw the need for such social functions, nor attend them, Like a family of shadows, and yet she had always been vaguely aware of the reverence the Uchiha name had and its never paling popularity. Even Ino is reluctant to express an honest opinion why.
She barely ever saw her eldest brothers, and slowly their afternoons spent laughing and playing became some remnant of the past. It was mostly her and Sasuke-kun in the manor. The good old days, gone so soon. They weren't playing businessmen now, they were actually running the company and clan.
She asks for her Baachan for the specifics of her parent's death when she comes to visit, she tries to be casual about the question. But Baachan answered in the same vein her brothers had about their recent Otou-sama's death. She barely catches the look Sasuke-kun gives her Baachan when her brother thinks she is busy pouring her grandmother tea. But it had been so slight that she thinks she imaged it.
"I need you to focus on your studies for now Sakura-chan, okay?" Itachi-niichan would gently remind her when she offers to help out and express her willingness to be part of things or at least be privy to them. UGH! as if she wasn't a top student in the academy already.
Even Sasuke-kun who was her age, shadowed Itachi-niichan sometimes. Not even begging for something (an in!) had helped her get some sort of responsibility for clan matters. Because you aren't really an Uchiha, remember? You're an outsider in all of this.
Her trepidation comes again. It felt like being forced to ride a rollercoaster blindfolded. She had no idea what comes next and feels powerless to do anything. Her thoughts are relentlessly reminding her of her status in the household and it bugs her like it never has before.
Useless. If they don't want you to hearing anything, Do you think you can actually handle what it is Sakura?
Nobody trusted her with anything.
Fine, they can keep their secrets, I can learn how to keep mine.
Sakura was no Uchiha, She never was, never will be. No matter how much her brothers have come to care for her, She knew this in her heart.
It was obvious that they treated her differently amongst themselves, there was always something being whispered just out of her earshot.
Obito and his lovely wife Rin always have dinner dates on Saturdays. Shortly after marrying her, he had moved out of the Uchiha manor to live in a decently sized apartment that was near her work at the hospital. She had been adamant about keeping it, she was sentimental like that. I've lived here for 5 years now! No problems with the plumbing, no robberies, and you can't find a price this good in the area, she would reason with him. He had a suspicion that she just refused to move to the Uchiha manor and he couldn't really blame her.
He adores his wife so much, he had always believed in she would excel and become a well-respected doctor. She was to return from her trip from a medical conference in Berlin tonight and he had planned a surprise for her. She had always been so passionate about caring for others, she was gentle and patient with him even when they were children. Even then he was sure that she was the girl he would marry. Stirring the pot of pasta sauce, gushing and happily reminiscing about their slow budding romance over the years, fully aware of the goofy lovestruck smile plastered on his face (he had been determined to win her over even after the first few rejections from her) he hears her arrive with her gentle steps. Great! He was just about to plate their food.
"Okaeri!" He calls out, when she doesn't answer he turns to see her enter the kitchen, bags in tow looking a bit worried. Maybe its the jet lag?
"Tadaima Obito-kun..." She walks to him with a gentle if not tight smile on her face. He immediately closes the distance to hug her tight to him, and she is quick to hug him back. Ah, he had missed her so much.
"Is something the matter honey? The turbulence that bad?" He murmured in her hair.
"I saw her, you know.." She starts quietly. "Sakura-chan..at the medical conference."
He stills at that. Rin leans back to look at him and her smile is tentative but gentle. She knows how touchy of a subject she is.
"She's actually a doctor now, our little Sakura-chan... she's all grown up now...I could hardly believe it was her speaking on the stage. It was amazing Obito-kun I wished that you were there..."
His response was to gape at Rin like a fish.
"D-did she see you?"
"No, she left immediately after speaking. But she was brilliant though, but it is to be expected they said she is under Tsunade Senju's tutelage and I had no idea..."
"Tsunade...Senju? Are you sure Rin-chan?" Maybe he heard wrong, maybe it was just speculation. But Rin nods an affirmative at him unaware of his worries, happy to tell him what she has heard.
"Yeah, She's a very famous doctor, maybe even the best alive... To think that Sakura-chan would become Tsunade-sama's apprentice, Sakura-chan really is something else..." She drones on as he is stuck in a storm inside his head.
His Imouto under tutelage of a Senju... If Madara finds out... if the rest of his brothers find out...
"Honey?.. Obito-kun is something wrong?"
He startles at Rin's hand on his cheek, she is frowning at him now concerned about the face he was making.
"N-no, Im just shocked..." Rin nods understandingly at him. Blissfully unaware.
"Yeah, you should tell your brothers that she's doing great... I know you all haven't seen her for years now, but I think-"
"Rin" he cuts her off, tone serious
"Huh?"
"Promise me something."
"Never mention this to Madara or anyone."
Rin frowns at that but listens, her husband has rarely used such a tone with her.
"I feel like Sakura-chan, wouldn't want them to know."
"What exactly happened between all of you and Sakura-chan, Obito-kun..."
Obito knows telling her would run the risk of her leaving him too. He knew Rin loved him, but Sakura-chan had adored all of them too and now she had wanted nothing to do with any of them. That's a risk he wasn't willing to take. Losing his Imouto had been painful enough.
He smiles at her trying to dispel her worries. He respected Sakura-chan's decisions to leave and distance herself, no matter how hard they all took it. It was the least he could do for her, even if he was alone in that particular sentiment.
"She and Madara got into this big argument you know this-" he sighs as he steps back to the stove to pour the sauce over his and Rin's pasta.
"Yeah that much is obvious, but about what exactly. I can hardly believe Sakura-chan would left and changes her name like that due to a silly argument" Rolling her eyes, Rin sits down at the table as he brings their plates over to her. Her eyes soften at her husband's efforts to cook her dinner and set the table as romantically as he can.
"You know how Madara and the others are when it comes to Imouto. How protective they are with her. The clan isn't exactly known for its progressive ideals, we keep family close, and Sakura-chan pursuing things her way didn't go over so well with the other family members. Our kind of life just isn't for her...So she just decided she didn't want to be an Uchiha anymore. The only thing Uchiha-like about her is her stubbornness." He says lightly while twirling his fork, keeping his explanation vague and telling the truth. Not all of it though. Rin can sense his lies from a mile away, it's better to just be selective with what he says.
"Tch, they let YOU move out and marry outside the clan, I can't believe she has to leave the family just because your elders are assholes and sexist-" Rin frowns as she points her fork at her husband. He sighs internally, Ah if only it had been as simple as that Rin-chan.
"Well I still work for the company, remember?. Sakura-chan didn't want to touch Uchiha corp. with a ten-foot pole with all those old bastards there-" He laughed, trying to lighten the mood. "Anyways, how was Berlin? You got a chance to visit the wall? I bet you loved the museums"
His wife's smile brightens as she recounts the fun things she got to do and all the pastries she ate, and then the museums she didn't get to go to. Obito is relieved that she drops the subject and Rin doesn't miss the contemplative look he has while washing the dishes, uncharacteristically quiet.
Later that night he calls the only person he trusts to be rational about this information. Someone who would not freak out gun blazing to this new lead. He puts his phone to his ear and hears 2 rings before hs brother picks it up.
"Obito-niisama?"
"Hey, Itachi.."
Chichihue: Formal address for Mother
Mofuku: Funeral Kimono
Kotsuage: Practice of taking a loved one's bones (remains after cremation) and passing them to relatives using chopsticks to be placed in their urn.
A/N: Sakura-chan's origins, and why she is as rebellious as she is initially. Ah, I love Obito and Rin, I just wanted them to be happy, alive and married in the manga/anime ya know? T..T but of course, we can't have nice things. Sigh.
Reviews are honesty the only thing that inspired me to update faster, I only just started writing the plot bunnies in my head and nothing beats the feeling of others sharing thoughts about plots that had been long just been in my head. let me know what you think!
I really love hearing from you, your curiosity feeds the plot bunnies plot carrots 3
Also! I illustrated one of the pictures of some of the bros received, should I make it into the fanfic art or post it somewhere else for you all to see? let me know!
Thank you so much for reading, please stay safe and healthy. its tough out there these days. Please be patient with my writing as well, I'm really a bit new to all of this.