Disclaimer: NARUTO and its characters belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. I also don't own any real life brands mentioned in the story.

Coming Home To You

by Yuno Tootsuki

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Chapter 2

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Taking care of the children in the hoikuen is literally exhausting, especially of those three-year-olds whose curiosity has begun to form. Questions such as 'what is this?' and 'what is that?' are no longer a stranger to my ears and of course it means I must prepare the answers they can easily understand.

At first it was difficult, but after a few years in—and with the suggestion from the more experienced senseis here—I have made a list of questions that can potentially be asked by children aged three to five, along with the best answers. Ever since then, my list has continued to grow, mostly due to their wild imagination to come up with questions I have never thought of before.

Therefore, I shouldn't have been surprised whenever such questions come to me—questions that had me thinking hard on how to answer (or if there is even an answer to begin with). But still, every time they do that, I can't help being awkward.

And maybe because I made quite a blunder this time, it feels even more awkward than ever.

After osanpo (walking around) with the children around the neighborhood this morning as usual, we go straight to classroom activities. Usually a morning class for the group of three-year-olds, called Kuma (bear) class, is held with simple art and craft activities, such as making shapes using play-doh, singing, or drawing.

Today, I've decided to do morning class with drawing activities. The theme I gave to the children to draw about is 'family'. I explained earlier what 'family' is and asked them to draw every family member in their home, including pets if they have one.

And this is where I do the blunder I mentioned before.

"If you have no father or no mother, it's okay. You don't need to draw them," I said—and this is after I explained before that a typical family consists of a father, a mother, and their children.

"Ino-sensei, what do you mean by have no father or have no mother?" The first attack comes from a girl named Akimichi Chouchou, the only daughter of my former high school classmate, Akimichi Chouji. Quite different from the rest of the children, her parents have specifically made a request to hoikuen staff to double her portion for lunch. She inherits her eating habit from her father for sure.

I pause for a moment. My mind is struggling to find an answer they can easily understand and accept.

"I mean there's no father or mother living at home," I end up giving a vague answer my mind could come up with at that moment. Of course, I can't talk about the concept of 'divorce' and 'death' yet. I don't want to give them nightmares nor do I want to be fired due to the complains from the parents about me teaching inappropriate things to their young children.

"Why they aren't home? Where they go?" The second attack comes from Uzumaki Boruto, your most active yet naughty and stubborn child of the Kuma class.

Boruto and his family moved from Konoha to Kiri last year because of his father's job transfer to Kiri's government office. But according to Uzumaki Naruto, his father who comes every day to deliver and pick up his son, they probably will have to move back to Konoha this fall because he's here just for a training. If that's the case, then why is Boruto sent here even though he's going to attend this hoikuen for only half a year? I asked him that and he answered that it's because his wife is currently heavily pregnant with their second child and she's having quite a hard time taking care of Boruto alone when he's not at home.

Not many know about this—maybe only a few hardcore fans like me—but Boruto is actually the nephew of Hyuuga Neji, a member of The Falcons. Boruto's mother is Neji's cousin—I immediately looked up for information on the internet after I saw Uzumaki-san's wife for the first time during the hoikuen's entrance ceremony. Their facial features just look so similar, especially around the eyes, and turns out that the familial connection between them is true after I confirmed to Uzumaki-san myself.

If Sarada is my favorite in the hoikuen, then Boruto… not so much. I gently massage my forehead thinking of an answer to his question.

"Your father is currently working right, Boruto? Well, what if your father works far away so that he can't come home? That's one of them. However, there are also several children who just don't have a father or a mother, just like there are children who don't have older siblings and those who have. Every family is different."

"But all children must have a father and a mother at home, just like I also have my dad and my mom! And Sensei also said before that family is a father, mother, and their children, right? Sensei is weird!"

Ugh, blunder.

I look at Tenten desperately, asking for help. Tenten is a part-time teacher and caregiver who is appointed to be my assistant in taking care of the Kuma class. She smiled sympathetically at me before taking the children's attention away by teaching them how to draw pets.

Fortunately, three-year-olds are also easily distracted. I bet if they were a few years older, they might still be demanding an answer out of me until they were satisfied. Thank goodness.

I sigh with relief after successfully avoiding one of the hardships in my life (lol). Unable to resist, my eyes shifted to Sarada who's now paying her full attention to Tenten-sensei drawing a cat on the blackboard.

It's not without a reason I made that blunder with the children. At that time, I remembered Sarada who doesn't have a father, or rather how a father is not listed at all in her personal data.

I don't know whether Sarada is aware of the absence of a father in her life or not, but I merely just don't want to risk making things difficult for her. As I thought, I do indeed play favorites when it comes to her—definitely not a good direction for my career in the near future.

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"Otsukaresama (thanks for your hardwork), Ino-sensei!" Tenten exclaims lightly, breaking my thoughts. "The children are all now taking a nap, so we can finally relax until they wake up later before the afternoon class."

"Otsukaresama. Yep, today isn't over yet, there's still less than half a day left," I reply with a smile. Then I stretch my sore back and my two arms, feeling tired more than usual, mostly because of the incident that happened this morning. "Ah, yeah, I almost forgot to thank you for your help this morning."

"It's nothing. If I were in your position, I would find it difficult as well," she responds with a smile and a pat on my shoulder. Somehow I feel like I'm being pitied. I can only chuckle bitterly at that.

"By the way," Tenten continues, "these are the drawings that the children did this morning, should I hang them in the gallery now or what?"

"Let me do it. You can go rest first."

I take the pile of drawings from Tenten's hands and then walk towards the gallery room. The children's works, be it drawings or other handicrafts, are usually displayed in the hoikuen's gallery for a week so parents can see what their children are doing each week. Parents can also submit a request to bring home their own child's work after the display is over if they wish.

I can't help laughing a little while hanging the children's drawings one by one in the gallery. I remember there is this famous artist who said that if you want to learn how to draw, you go learn from the children. If you ask why, then it's because their imaginations are still so wild, unrestrained by the boundary of logic gradually formed when you grow up. At this exact moment, I feel like I can finally understand what the artist meant. I gave the children a specific theme of 'family' to draw about but they drew it in various shapes and colors.

I mean, take a look at Chouchou's drawing for example—I don't understand whether she tried to draw her father or… a donut? In my mind, I can't help imagining Chouji as a literal walking donut and I become unable to stop my laughter. Oh my God.

And now what is this? It seems like Boruto drew his father like… huh, what? I don't understand why there are somewhat of huge tails behind the figure of his father and I count there are like nine of them. Does Boruto think of his father as a nine-tailed monster or what? I have no idea honestly—but whatever it is, Boruto draws pretty good for a three-year-old. This kid has a talent in drawing. He also drew his mother with an obvious enlarged belly. It seems like he's already aware that he's going to have a brother or a sister soon.

Apart from that, Boruto also drew two giant shaped frogs… does the Uzumaki family keep frogs in their house? What an odd choice of pets—and why are they so big?

The next picture, as well as the last picture I'm displaying, makes me pause for a moment after I realize who this drawing belongs to—the name 'Haruno Sarada' is imprinted on the right corner of the paper. Before I have repeatedly mentioned that Sarada is a talented child, but it seems like drawing is not what she's good at.

To be honest, I don't really understand what she has drawn.

The drawing is crowded—lots of colorful lines and obscure shapes filled almost the entire surface of the paper and I don't even understand what they are. Are these supposed to be flowers? Then what is this box-shaped thing?

However, what caught my attention the most is the three figures—one small and two big human-like figures in the middle.

I shake my head once I realize that my mind is suddenly filled with various thoughts. I must not assume things, as Temari once said. Perhaps later I should ask Sarada who these figures are.

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One of the duties for the head teachers who have specific class assigned for them is writing weekly reports for the parents. The content of the report is quite simple; as a teacher and caregiver, I only need to write down what the children have done during the past week, some comments on the children's development, and a suggestion for parents. As a response, parents also need to provide a feedback for the hoikuen, which contains any of their children's developments at home, as well as comments and suggestions for the teachers.

Writing reports for all eight children in the Kuma class is not an easy thing I'm telling you, because it's like you need to review the children's daily activity log, sort out what to write, and give specific comments for each child.

Since I'm not in the mood to finish everything at hoikuen until late, I've decided to bring my work home. So, now here I am, still struggling in front of my laptop, typing the children reports I need to upload before the day ends.

Fortunately, Futaba Hoikuen has adapted to the development of technology so that the children weekly reports are all done in digital format. It is quite an effective and efficient method considering 95% of the parents are workers (there are small number of students), so they certainly don't have much free time besides working and taking care of their family at home. So, I just need to upload the report and in an instant the parents will receive it straight to their mobile devices.

"Still not finished yet, Ino?" Temari asks.

"Not yet. Just two more children left," I reply, still focusing on my laptop's screen.

"Oh, good luck then. By the way, can I turn on the TV? You're the type who can still work despite the noise from the TV, aren't you?"

I nod. I don't care either way.

I keep typing to finish my work while Temari calmly watches the television. Shikadai seems to be sleeping in the guest room. Maybe. I don't know. And around thirty minutes later, I finally manage to finish everything. I close my laptop and then put my forehead on the table. I sigh deeply.

"What's with you?" I hear Temari asks.

"I think I'm going to be fired… I'm so unprofessional I can't believe it…"

"Huh? Why? What happened?" Temari asks again.

I ignore Temari and just quietly lean my face against the folds of my arms. I can literally feel my heart pounding slightly faster than usual. I'm really surprised of myself; how can I feel nervous just now? It's already too late for that.

I close my eyes. What happened that day is still fresh inside my mind.

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"Sarada, if you don't mind, can you tell me what you drew here?" I asked gently, pointing to Sarada's own drawing displayed in the gallery.

"Oh, that's my apartment, Sensei. Here is a rosemary flower because we plant rosemary at the balcony. And then this is the stray cat I found in our apartment's backyard. Mama said I can't keep it inside but it's okay to give it cat food every morning."

Sarada continued to explain all the strange-looking objects she drew. This child… seemed like she somewhat misunderstood the meaning of 'family' I had explained before. Or could it be that she simply thought all the things in her house as 'family'? Sarada is just cute like that.

"The one in the middle is me. I'm wearing my favorite red dress that Mama bought me for my birthday."

I paid my full attention on what she said when it came to the objects of my curiosity in the first place.

She then pointed the left figure besides her own.

"This is my Mama…"

Then her finger moved to the right one.

"…and this is Papa."

I paused for a moment. I couldn't take my eyes off the figure described by Sarada as her 'Papa'. My mind went blank at that time. It was kind of difficult to process what she had said, as if there was something in my mind denying it to exist.

"Sarada… has a papa?"

The girl nodded.

"Sarada's Papa is home?"

She smiled. "I see Papa at home a lot!"

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I didn't ask anything else after that because my brain still found it difficult to digest everything Sarada has said. And not long after that, Sarada's mother arrived to pick her up. What a great timing! At that moment, I could only take Sarada to her mother and wave my hand at them when they left.

When my brain finally started to properly function again after a nice dinner and a few drinks, I began to think of any possibilities based on what Sarada has said before in the hoikuen.

So Sarada has a papa and knows who he is? But then why did Haruno-san claim to be a single mother to Kurenai-sensei and why the heck is the data on Sarada's father missing then?

Did Haruno-san lie to her daughter? It can be that because she simply didn't want to make Sarada upset, she lied by saying that her daughter has a father and telling her who he is. But that doesn't answer how Sarada could say that her father is home. Did Haruno-san show her a photo of her father? But if that's the case, then the drawing of her father should be in the form of a photo, not a full human figure considering how detailed Sarada described all of the objects she has drawn (even though her drawing is also… uh… ugly—forgive me Sarada!).

Which means, it is very likely that there's indeed a man in their life and Sarada considers him as her father. It may also be that the man often comes to Sarada and her mother's apartment because she never said that 'her papa' lives with them. Everything is now beginning to make sense, and after all, the man she considers as her father doesn't necessarily have to be her biological father, right?

Is he their neighbor then, considering Sarada sees him a lot in her apartment?

And if Sarada already treats him as her father and Haruno-san herself seems to not mind that, could there be a special connection exist between that man and Haruno-san?

…even a single mother has a boyfriend, huh.

Somehow, I suddenly felt so sorry for myself. Well, I'm indeed still single and I'm never in denial of that, so what the heck do I want then?

…or maybe I simply just feel 'rivaled'. So much to the point that I was being impulsive and wrote that kind of thing in the report.

"I'm sure I'll definitely get fired after this…" I complain again, taking a deep breath.

"What the heck is going on here?" Temari asks, sounding annoyed enough because I've been ignoring her. "Quick tell me the reason why you're so sure you'll get fired!"

I open my laptop and show her the weekly report of Sarada that I have uploaded to hoikuen's online website.

"Pfft, you are sooo gonna be fired," Temari chuckle. "Just chill and take it easy though. It's okay if you're fired. I can ask Shikamaru to find another job for you."

"I don't want to…" I say then, "If I get fired because of this, my CV will look bad and I won't be able to find job at another hoikuen or yochien. You know how cruel this society is… my career will be ruined. And not to mention I love my current job and have struggled so much just to get a teaching certificate for an early education—wait does that mean it will be useless then?"

"Geez, Ino… I'm just joking! After all, it's not certain that you're going to be fired for real anyway. You're just worrying too much." Temari pats my back softly. "However, I still don't understand why did you have to write things like, 'Sarada also seems to be very close to her father, so I think it'd be better if Haruno-san marries your boyfriend so that he can officially become Sarada's papa and live together with the both of you,' for a student report? It's obvious that you're just assuming things again about someone you don't know personally. Are you looking for a fight?"

"Eh, don't just casually reread it like that… it makes me depressed again…"

"Just pray that Haruno-san isn't the type of person who gets offended over something like this."

"…I will do that."

But it seems like my prayer isn't answered—because the next day when I was cleaning my apartment, an e-mail came from Kurenai-sensei, the Futaba Hoikuen's principal.

The content tells me that Haruno Sakura, Sarada's mother, requested to meet me personally on Sunday tomorrow at lunch time.

I'm so, so dead.

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To be continued

A/N: Early education in Japan consists of two; yochien (kindergarten) and hoikuen (nursery school). The differences can be seen from the name. Yochien typically accept children aged 3-5 years and are more focused on preparing young children for formal education. The class runs from morning to noon and parents normally prepare their own children's lunch. Meanwhile, hoikuen typically accept children aged 0-5 years and are more focused as a daycare for parents who are busy working for the day, so the activities are more of playing than actual studying. Hoikuen runs from morning to late afternoon so parents can pick up their children after work.