Sakura hummed to herself, smiling as she braided Kagami's hair, ignoring her Sasuke-nii and her old self who milled about in the garden in front of them. It was the end of a warm, sticky day, and her mother had been more than happy about her asking to play with Kagami. Of course, that meant her old self had to bring her sister over, but Sakura could suffer through seeing her old self if it meant seeing Kagami. Her precious sister. Hers. Sakura smiled, weaving Kagami's hair into an intricate style that made her look even prettier than she already was.
"Done," she said, having finished tying the ribbon, securing the pretty braid.
"Whoa…" Kagami peered into the mirror her kaa-chan had leant out to her. "It's really pretty! You're super awesome, Sakura!"
Sakura preened, pulling herself forwards to sit next to her precious little imouto, wrapping her arms around her. "Of course I am," she mumbled, smiling in satisfaction when Kagami returned the hug.
Admittedly it had taken her a short while to get Kagami to accept them from her, but she had succeeded in passing off those daily hugs as routine.
"Tou-san said Uchiha are s'pposed to be 'loof and all, but Sakura isn't like that!" Kagami chirped, resting her head on Sakura's shoulder. "You're a weird Uchiha, Kura! Hee. Kura, get it? Friends need nicknames. That's what Sakura-nee said – she's got a blonde friend called Ino."
Sakura blinked placidly. So that was something that remained constant between the worlds. That didn't matter though, she supposed. She had Kagami now. Kagami was hers. "You can be Mi, then," she said matter-of-factly. Her hand closed around Kagami's own. "We'll be Kura and Mi, not Sakura and Ino…" she murmured, resting her own head on top of Kagami's. She wouldn't let their sisterhood end the same way as her friendship had.
Kagami was hers. Only hers.
"Huh?" Kagami blinked in confusion.
Sakura smiled. "Don't worry about it, Mi," she said, basking in the presence of her precious little sister for as long as she could get away with. But all good things came to an end – and all too soon she had to be separated from her sibling. Mi… Mine. Her hands itched whenever she walked Kagami to their door, and she could just imagine her living with them. Sharing a room together, braiding each other's hair, whispering stories to one another as they grew up there together – as it should have been.
Pouting, she wandered to her mother's side, watching from the counter as she cooked dinner with a practiced ease. "Will there be any pudding?" she asked, swinging her stubby legs back and forth. Her muscles were coming along slowly but surely, though they weren't anything near where Sakura wanted them to be.
She'd need them to rip ROOT to shreds.
Her hands twitched, clenching down on the kitchen counter upon which she sat. They were a threat. A threat to Kagami. A threat to her precious brothers. A threat to her family… and she couldn't lose her family again.
"Imouto?" Itachi appeared from the corridor, Sasuke trailing on his heels.
"Nii-san!" Sakura leapt down, eagerly trotting to his side. "What are you doing now? Neh, were you taking Sasu-nii to train before dinner?"
Shisui was there in an instant, smiling sunnily at her as she looked between her brothers and her cousin. "How ever did you guess, Saku-chan?"
"Yay!" Sakura grinned brightly, distracted from mourning the absence of her Kagami. "I'm coming too," she declared, throwing herself into Shisui's arms. "I wanna do more than just run around this time though, you got that?"
"Sure thing, Saku-chan," Shisui chirped. "I'm sure I can think of something fun for you to do, while the stick in the mud over there drills Sasuke on shuriken."
"Muscle and endurance are the base upon which everything is built on, Shisui," Itachi called, guiding Sasuke towards the targets.
Sakura pouted yet again, puffing out her cheeks at the thought of doing more and more running. She needed to be stronger than before, so she didn't lose anyone. She couldn't lose anyone. Never again. Her grasp on Shisui tightened reflexively, sharingan pushing behind her eyes wanting to come out. Never.
A poke to her cheek startled her out of her daze. "What's with the serious face?" Shisui inquired. "Or are you just that excited to be training with yours truly?"
"Shi-nii!" Sakura smiled up at him, using every inch of her cuteness as she begged her cousin to teach her something useful for her plan to take down ROOT. "Teach me shunshin? Please. Pretty please?"
Shisui leant over her exhausted form, smirking. "I don't think you'll be copying me anytime soon, Saku-chan. Those short little legs of yours can't keep up."
"They're perfectly average sized for my age!" Sakura grumbled, pushing her aching self to her feet.
"Oh really…?"
"Shisui," Itachi spoke, glaring at him as he swept her up into his arms. "Stop teasing her. You've tired her out enough as it is with your ridiculous training methods, and we'll be late for dinner if we dally any longer."
"And the jealously—oof… Not cool, Tachi," Shisui grumbled, rubbing at his stomach. "You have pointy elbows."
Itachi just ignored him, turning his focus to her instead. "Why do you push yourself so hard, imouto?" he murmured, cradling her to his chest, and Sakura pulled herself back so she could stare up at him with earnest eyes. "You don't need to grow up just yet…"
Sakura beamed. "I'm gonna protect you, nii-san! That's why I have to get stronger."
"I should be telling you that," Itachi said softly, eyes softening as he locked stares with her own.
Sakura tilted her head. "But Tachi-nii is sad…"
Itachi stared down at her wordlessly.
"This is too cute for words," Shisui mumbled behind them. "She just wants to protect her big brother… I could squeal at the adorableness."
"Please don't," Itachi said, one hand coming to tuck some of her fluffed up inky black locks back behind her ear.
Sakura placed her smaller hands on either side of his face, staring up at him with a big grin on her face as she opened her mouth once more, eyes narrowing at the thought of anyone trying to hurt her precious eldest brother. "I'll kill anyone who hurts you, nii-san!"