"Where have you guys been?" Naruto asked while slurping his instant ramen.
Sasuke put the books in his hands on the table and answered, "Where else could we've been, seeing that I'm bringing more books? Of course my room."
"Hey! You don't need to be a jerk to answer that question!" Naruto pointed his chopsticks at Sasuke.
"Also, I thought you never allowed anyone in your room! How come Sakura-chan can see it?"
Sasuke looked at him impassively, "Because Sakura isn't you. She won't make a mess in my room."
"Wh-what… what did you say?! You-..."
"Naruto, how many instant ramen have you eaten?" Sakura decided to cut in their bickering.
"Eh…" Naruto smiled sheepishly, "Maybe three? Or is this the fourth? Well, around that number. Haha!"
"Dobe," Sasuke grumbled.
"I heard that!"
"So… do you think we can continue studying after you finish that cup of ramen?" Sakura asked while opening her book.
Naruto scrunched up his nose, "Studying is so boring Sakura-chan. Can we just do some training?"
"But we'll have written exams too, Naruto. And I don't think you're ready for them yet."
"I can just have a high score in the practical exams so it will cover my score for the written exams!" Naruto exclaimed with rounded eyes, as if his idea just now was such a brilliant one.
"It doesn't work like that, Dobe," Sasuke sighed.
"Oooh, look who we have here! The cute three musketeers!" Shisui yelled while walking towards the living room with Itachi following behind.
"Sakura and I are indeed cute, Shisui-nii. But Teme isn't," Naruto answered seriously.
Shisui let out a bark of laughter, "You three are cute in my eyes. Even you, little shrimp."
Shisui tried to pinch Sasuke's cheek but he swatted his cousin's hand away and huffed.
Shisui just continued laughing while Itachi came to sit beside Naruto.
"You're eating instant ramen again," Itachi said to Naruto.
"Of course, Itachi-nii! It's the bestest food in the whole world! You can ask Mikoto Oba-chan to give you one if you want. I'm sure she has extra ramen somewhere."
Itachi smiled softly, "No, it's okay. Okaa-san specifically bought them for you."
Naruto's eyes widen, "Really? Wow! Oba-chan is the best!"
He then turned his head to Sasuke and sneered, "If you were half as good as your mother, the world will be a better place."
"What did you say?!"
"Teme!"
"Dobe!"
"Haaaah…" Sakura sighed. She knew a peaceful study session with these two around could only be a dream.
They finished their study session late today, and Mikoto insisted on them having dinner together before heading back. What Mikoto asked, Mikoto got. So, Sakura and Naruto stayed until the evening and Shisui-nii along with Itachi-nii were tasked to escort them both back.
Sakura had never skipped dinner in the orphanage before and it made her kind of nervous. While walking away from the Uchiha district she suddenly remembered that Naruto was also an orphan but didn't stay in the orphanage like her. She decided to broach the subject to ease her nerves.
"Ne, Naruto…"
"Hm?" Naruto looked at her.
"I thought you told me that you're also an orphan like me, but you're not staying at the orphanage? Or is there any other orphanage in Konoha?"
Naruto smiled softly at her, "I live in my own apartment for as long as I remember, Sakura-chan. The old man said it was my parents' before they died."
"Old man?"
"Yeah… the third Hokage."
"Oh… Are you close with him?"
"Hmmm... " Naruto scrunched up his nose in thought.
"I guess so. I mean he liked to visit me from time to time. There are also other shinobi with some sort of animal masks who come to deliver groceries and stuff but I don't know any of them."
Sakura seemed to contemplate this and was about to reply when Shisui cut in their conversation.
"We all should have a sleepover one day. Maybe we can turn 'Tachi's yard as a makeshift camping ground. What do you kids think?"
Sakura and Naruto turned to look at the older boys with bright eyes.
"Really? You can't take that back Shisui-nii!" Naruto exclaimed.
Shisui smiled, "Of course. Once you kids finish the exam we'll go camping in 'Tachi's yard, right 'Tachi?"
Itachi raised his eyebrows, but nodded his head nonetheless. "Sure. Just make sure to pass the exams well."
"Yes!!" Sakura and Naruto both yelled. For a moment they forgot what they were talking about.
Sakura walked inside the orphanage slowly. She didn't tell anyone she'd be back late today and now was dreading any encounter she might have with any of the orphanage's occupants. They liked to bully her any chance they got, and this would be a perfect chance for them to do so.
"You think if you walk slowly like that none of us will notice you?"
Sakura freezed on her spot. She turned her body slowly and lowered her head down.
"Sorry. I was studying with my classmates for final exams and forgot the time."
One of her bullies replied, "I don't care whether you have final exams around the corner or what. What's important is that you didn't come on time and today's dinner dishes should have been washed by you, did you forget that?!"
"I'm sorry, I'll do the dishes for tomorrow's dinner," Sakura replied meekly.
"Tomorrow is a different matter! What about today?"
Another bully yelled, "That's right! You can't give our time back to us, what if we had something important to do tonight?"
But you don't, seeing that you're wasting your time to scream at me now.
"Why don't you say anything? Do you look down on our complaints?"
"She must be thinking too highly of herself seeing that she succeeded in getting close to those Uchiha people."
"Yeah, I wonder how she did that."
"Wait, aren't those Uchiha people hated by other villagers?"
"They do hate them, but it's because those Uchihas are too powerful for their own good. Though, if you can get close to even one of them, it would still be considered a personal achievement."
"Really? I thought that means we should avoid them!"
"Yeah, it's an open secret for anyone in the village. How could you not know that?"
"Hey! Focus! We're not talking about them now!"
All of them quieted down and continued to glare on Sakura.
Sakura looked at her feet again, storing whatever info she got about the Uchiha people in her mind. She had never heard about such a thing before. Why would anyone hate on them? All of the Uchiha people she knew were so nice, even the old man who gave her that anpan the first time she visited the Uchiha district was so kind. How low could people's self-esteem be if they hated others simply because those other people were more powerful than them?
"Hey! Do you have a mouth or not? Why aren't you saying anything?!" One of the bullies grabbed Sakura's shoulder.
"I told you, I'm sorry for coming back late. I will do tomorrow's dinner dishes to repay for tonight's mishap," Sakura replied while shaking a little bit.
"You insolent brat! How dare you speak like that to us!"
Someone shoved Sakura to the ground. A hand came and grabbed Sakura's hair while a foot kicked on her stomach. Others started to kick on her feet and someone stepped on her left hand.
Right before a hand slapped her cheek, a bully reminded the group, "Hey, don't injure her face or we'll be in trouble. Hit her somewhere else!"
They continued on their bullying and Sakura bit her lower lip, trying very hard to not cry and give her bullies satisfaction of seeing her weep.
Little Sakura laid on her bed and gazed at the ceiling. She didn't know what she did so wrong to get such treatment. She had been bullied before she came to the orphanage, but it was never this cruel. The most people did was either pulling her pink hair or saying mean things. Even then Ino came to her rescue and overtime she was finally able to stand up for herself.
But now, it seemed like she was back to square one, or even worse. She didn't dare to fight back because there were too many of them, and they all liked to resort to violence. Who knows how much crueler they would be if she tried to fight back?
Ah, everything hurt. Her body hurt. Her heart hurt. She missed her parents so much.
Tears started to fall down slowly from the corners of her eyes. She tried to cheer herself up with the memories from the academy and Uchiha district. Those two places were her happy places now.
She started to fall asleep after making a mental note to give proper thanks to an older boy in the orphanage, who always helped treat her wounds everytime she got beaten up by those bullies. What was his name again? Ah, it was Kabuto.