Shisui stayed rooted at his spot. He just came back from a mission early in the morning and decided it was a good idea to come to the Uchiha's main house for lunch. Though, the major reason for his arrival here was actually to annoy Itachi and Sasuke, as per usual. The lunch would be a bonus, he would say.

He had expected the both of them to be home because Itachi didn't have a mission today and Sasuke was still the adorable little Sasuke whose mission usually involved putting tomatoes inside his mouth when he thought nobody was looking. He also expected Mikoto Oba-chan to already be home from her usual morning grocery shopping, and he was so sure that she already included him in for today's lunch preparations.

What he didn't expect, however, was to see cuteness incarnate standing inside Uchiha's main house.

He looked at the little bundle of cuteness in front of him. She had soft-looking pink hair and her eyes looked like a green pasture. The baby fat on her cheeks made her eyes look even bigger and from her small figure he assumed her to be the same age as Sasuke. If anyone told him that he was currently looking at a fairy, he'd believe them, because she indeed looked like a creature out of a fairy tale's book for kids.

"What are you doing, gaping like a fish like that, Shisui?" Itachi called out to him.

"Shut up, 'Tachi! What do you expect me to do when you have cuteness incarnate present in your house!" Shisui yelled back while pointing at Sakura.

Sakura simply raised her eyebrows at the unexpected nickname he gave her. Shisui looked back at her and walked closer. He smiled, kneeled on one knee, and extended his hand.

"Hello, there! I'm Uchiha Shisui, Sasuke and Itachi's cousin. You must be Sasuke's friend, right?"

"She's not my friend! She's just a classmate!" Sasuke shouted from beside the countertop.

"To-ma-to, to-mah-to. It's basically the same thing, Sasu-chan!" Shisui shouted back.

Sakura looked startled and dropped the book on her hand. She looked at Sasuke with wonder and confusion, and her mouth was gaping cutely. She raised her hand shakily and pointed at Sasuke.

"You can speak! You can speak! Do you realize you just spoke?" She said frantically.

Everyone in the room looked at her with confusion clearly expressed on their faces. How could it be so shocking for her to hear Sasuke speak?

"You're not a mute anymore! This is a miracle!"

The room became so silent until Shisui finally broke the tension with his guffaw. He clutched at his stomach, trying hard to not fall to the floor but failed miserably. Sasuke just stared at her, looking so dumbstruck until realization finally dawned on him.

Sasuke's ears started to become red and he jumped down from the chair near the countertop. He ran towards Sakura, and with an embarrassed face confronted her.

"What do you mean by that?! Of course I can speak! I was never a mute!"

Sakura took a sharp breath, "You were never a mute? But I never heard you speak at all before!"

"So, what? Just because you never heard me speak that means I was a mute?"

"Well, no, but maybe! How could a kid our age never speak to anyone during class or break time! Not to mention Naruto said you're like a mute or something!"

Sasuke looked at her disbelievingly, "And why would you trust whatever that Dobe said?!"

"You didn't prove otherwise! I literally tried talking to you a week ago but you just stared at me and said nothing!"

Sasuke was silent at that.

"Also, if you weren't a mute, that means you're just rude! All this time I thought you didn't reply to my words because you couldn't do so, but it turns out you simply ignored me."

"I didn't ignore you! I responded with my body language! Seriously, how could a kid our age doesn't know that?" Sasuke replied back.

Shisui just looked at both of them with a knowing glint in his eyes. He was sure that the life at Uchiha's main house would be more colourful than ever from now on. It seemed like he had to visit the main house even more than before to not miss any entertaining events.

Little Sakura sat at the short-legged dining table with Sishui on her side and Sasuke on the other side of the table. Itachi was seated beside Sasuke and was currently offering her a dango from the pack that he had been eating before the fight happened, as if the dango was a peace treaty.

Sasuke and Sakura's bickering quickly turned into some sort of brawl, with Sakura looking officially offended by the insinuation that Sasuke made at her knowledge level. Sasuke, on the other hand, looked thoroughly annoyed at the fact that she had thought of him as a mute.

Itachi and Shisui had to separate the two before Mikoto decided to interfere, thinking nobody wanted to see an Uchiha matriarch release her temper should the fighting become even more out of control. Unknown to them, Mikoto actually became quite fascinated at the fact that the pink girl had succeeded in drawing such a huge reaction from Sasuke.

Sasuke was always expressive around his immediate family, though he'd started to conceal more of his emotions around his father. He was very close to Itachi and thought of him as an idol worthy of respect and devotion. He was also close to Mikoto, but still, nobody seemed to replace Itachi's place in his heart. Shisui had tried numerous times to win Sasuke's affection but all he got was huff and pout.

This pink girl, however, successfully pulled Sasuke out of his shell, which was the first time for a non-family to achieve. Mikoto observed the girl taking the dango out of its packing and bit into it. Her instant joyous expression told her everything she needed to know about the girl's preference for food. She definitely had a sweet tooth, just like Itachi and herself. She made a mental note to prepare more sweet snacks in the future. She just knew that this wouldn't be the last time she saw the pink girl in her home; call it mother instinct on her part.

Sakura enjoyed her dango 'till the very last bit. She needed to ask that older boy Itachi where his mother bought the dango for future reference. But that could be done later, when she didn't have Sasuke's pouting face facing her from the other side of the table.

"Sorry," Sakura said.

Sasuke looked at her and quirked his eyebrow.

"You should really start talking instead of quirking your eyebrow all the time, you know? That way nobody will misunderstand you for a mute."

"I thought you're apologizing."

"I am. But I'm also stating the fact."

The two of them stared at each other. Nobody seemed to back down until a deep voice called out 'tadaima' from the entrance of the house.

All heads looked at the nearing figure of a middle-aged man. By now, Sakura could already deduce who this man was supposed to be.

"Okaeri, Anata," Mikoto called out.

"Okaeri, Otou-san," his sons responded.

The middle-aged man seemed surprised to see such a bright and girly colouring present in his home. He quirked his eyebrow at the girl in question and Sakura realized where Sasuke got his non-verbal language abilities.

"She's Sasu-chan's classmate! She came all the way to our home to deliver Sasu-chan's forgotten book. I invited her to have lunch with us!" Mikoto explained joyfully.

"Hn," the middle-aged man replied.

A peculiar father for a peculiar son. The fruit truly doesn't fall far from the tree, huh?

He took a seat at the head of the table and took off his jounin vest. He folded it to his side and looked at Sakura again, a silent order to introduce herself. Luckily, Sakura understood this specific command and proceeded to introduce herself.

"Good afternoon, Oji-san. I'm Haruno Sakura, your son's classmate." Sakura said while bowing her head towards him.

At the mention of her name, everyone else except for Sasuke gasped and turned towards her.