O Koishii O
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Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend;
Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie,
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and-sans End!
-Omar Khayyam (translation: Edward FitzGerald)
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O Chapter 1 O
The anbu cafeteria was decorated with bright florescent lights, but the off-white walls always gave the room a dirty look. Only the bare necessities were served there: a cheap, powdery brand of green tea and sometimes instant ramen.
Most of the shinobi who spent their time at the cafeteria kept to themselves, it wasn't known as a social place, but in fact as a place to work since the large tables provided ample space and a change of scenery.
The banal room was one of Sakura's favorite places because it was usually quite and calm, giving her enough serenity to focus.
Currently, she had a myriad of scrolls sprawled out on one of the corner tables. They were random documents, ranging from her travels with her shishou to medical scrolls.
She was arranging them, throwing away the old and useless ones, and storing the ones that would come in handy for her future in the Strategy and Intelligence Department.
"Well, look who it is," a voice suddenly said from her side.
"Karuhi," Sakura smiled, not bothering to let go of the document in her hand.
A brown haired woman leaned casually against the wall, observing her friend work diligently. She was tall with a strong jaw-line, and piercing purple eyes that were constantly shifting. She wasn't wearing an anbu uniform, but her outfit was still a mix of dark and neutral tones with a pop of color coming from her painted nails.
Karuhi belonged to the Senior Anbu Council of the Surveillance Division, specifically Home and Defense Management. Her job was to make sure nothing suspicious was occurring in Konoha, and that nothing suspicious entered Konoha.
Sighing at the lack of response from the pinkette, she walked over to sit across from Sakura. She eyed the scrolls curiously, reaching over to pick one from the table, only to be swatted away.
"Confidential," Sakura said, retrieving her hand when she knew for sure the brunette wouldn't reach for the scroll again.
Karuhi rolled her eyes, "Right, the gambling debt of the Hokage is very confidential."
Sakura sighed and looked up, raising an eyebrow at the girl across from her.
"You weren't at Miki's party," Karuhi said, inspecting her nails.
The apprentice shrugged, stacking the papers in order to make some sense of the mess around her. She liked to think of herself as more organized than her Shishou, but the current state of the table was contradicting her own belief.
Sakura reached over to take a sip of her tea, which had been hiding under an especially large document.
"Ita," she mumbled, frowning at the flimsy paper cup that burnt her hand, it was probably as cheap as the beverage it held.
The girl in front of her growled, prompting Sakura to finally stop ignoring the question.
"Fine," the pinkette sighed again, "I know I didn't show up, it's just that I was so tired from all the anbu exams."
Karuhi huffed and crossed her arms, "The whole point of the party was to celebrate the end of them, it was supposed to be relaxing."
Sakura raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry, but my definition of relaxation isn't drinking sake and passing out."
The brown haired woman raised her hands, "Fine, I concede. But you know how Miki is, she was really hurt when you didn't show up. She was complaining about it the whole day yesterday, do you know how annoying it was?" she asked with a groan.
Sakura bit her lip, "How about I apologize to your girlfriend? Would that make things better?"
Karuhi looked up and let out a sigh of relief, "Yes, please," her hands came up to rub at her temples, "Kami, I would love to get a good night of sleep for once."
The pink haired girl couldn't help but feel bad for her friend, after all she had bailed despite committing to the party. Sakura wasn't much of social animal, preferring a good book over a crazy night out, but her friends always tried to drag her off to different places.
She took a sip of her tea and cringed, suddenly realizing exactly why no one seemed to buy it. It tasted terrible but it was the best she could probably afford with the terrible pay she got from anbu.
"I administered the Male Combat Exam," Karuhi suddenly said, "And Uchiha Itachi's shirt may have 'accidentally'" she said, drawing quotation marks, "burnt off."
"What?" Sakura said coughing, a fist coming in front of her mouth.
"Yup," Karuhi nodded, "I made sure the fire pits went off at the moment he crossed it, and boy was I pleased."
Sakura gave her a questioning look, causing the brown haired girl to grin, "What? Just because I swing the other way, doesn't mean I can't appreciate fine specimen."
The pinkette laughed, crumpling up the rejected the documents she had left and throwing them in the waste basket she had pulled over. Taking a few paperclips from her pocket, she took the final sections of divided papers and stuck them together, stacking them in one neat pile.
She jolted slightly when she felt Karuhi kick her harshly from underneath, and looked up to finally realize who had appeared beside the two girls.
"Congratulations Haruno."
Sakura held her breathe as she met the silver eyes of the infamous Neji Hyuuga. He blinked at her for a moment, before proceeding to turn and walk out of the cafeteria, ignoring the gaping girls behind him.
"Well aren't you famous," Karuhi said with a smirk, her eyebrows raised suggestively.
The pinkette sighed and turned away to hide the blush dusting her cheeks, "I think he was the fifth person to congratulate me today. It's getting a bit embarrassing."
Karuhi laughed, and patted the girls hand, "You should be happy. With all the attention you're getting, clans will start sending you marriage offers; now you can go write to your mother and tell her to stop worrying."
Sakura rolled her eyes and smiled, "I kind of miss her you know, despite how annoying she is."
The brunette squeezed her hand comfortingly, "I know how it feels, but, anyway," Karuhi said, bringing her hand back to brush a lock of stray hair, "When do you start working with Nara."
"I've moved my stuff into the office already. The whole division is so empty, you would think there would be more people there," Sakura admitted.
The brown haired girl looked away, before turning to look at her friend from the corner, "About that..."
The apprentice's eyes narrowed, "What?"
"Well, the division was actually run by another anbu named Akiyama Kazauo. He and a bunch of older anbu were a part of Intelligence, but when your shishou came in power she personally replaced him with Nara and forced the other anbu to retire," she said, biting her lip.
"And?" Sakura probed, noticing the slight crease in Karuhi's brow.
The brunette hesitated, "He didn't retire like the others, and doesn't exactly like the Hokage" she paused, "Just be careful Sak, even though he isn't head of Intelligence, he's been here for a long time and is still pretty influential among the older anbu members."
Sakura repressed a groan, this Akiyama character would probably be even more pissed when he finds out that the Hokage's own apprentice would be joining the Division he was removed from. She would need to learn more about him in order to prepare herself from some possible trouble in the future.
Wonderful she sighed, picking up her neat stack of papers and standing up.
Karuhi looked up from her spot and smiled, "Hey, don't worry about it okay? You'll be just fine."
Sakura shrugged, as long as she remained respectful and obeyed orders from her superiors in anbu she would be fine.
"I should probably go now, I'll see you around Karuhi," she said with a wave.
The pinkette made her way towards the entrance of the cafeteria, passing various anbu who were either ignoring her or whispering about her. Just as she was about to leave, her friend's voice stopped her.
"Oi, Sakura!" Karuhi shouted, causing said girl to turn, "I forgot to tell you, congratulations!"
"Congratulations!" Mikoto said clapping her hands, as she she placed the final dish on the table.
Sasuke looked up at his mother and gave her a small smile, "Arigato."
He glanced at his brother who was looking at him as well, giving the younger brother a nod of approval. Sasuke's father, on the other hand, stared impassively ahead with no emotion found.
Mikoto repressed a sigh at her husband's behavior. In fact, it was unusual for Fugaku to even join them for dinner, it had taken a lot of convincing from her part to get the busy man to drop his work and have some family time.
The woman sat down and with the usual 'itadakimasu' the Uchiha family began to eat. Mikoto had cooked all their favorite dishes today, and made sure to add extra tomatoes for the youngest son.
"I'm so happy you've become anbu captain," Mikoto said with a sigh and teary eyes, "Oh, my boys are growing up."
Sasuke repressed a groan at the overly sentimental speech his mother had probably prepared.
"Oh, and Itachi, I'm proud of you too of course," she said with a watery smile.
The heir nodded, sharing a knowing glance with his younger brother, who seemed to fear the same monologue that was coming up.
Surprisingly, however, it was Fugaku who prevented the onslaught of tears, "How did Naruto do, Sasuke?" he asked.
The dark haired boy briefly made eye contact with his father before returning to stare at his food.
"How unfortunate," Fugaku tsked, "He's a disappointment to his father's legacy,"
Sasuke bit his lip and continued eating despite the stares he was receiving from his mother and brother. Even though Naruto hadn't passed the exams to became captain, Sasuke knew that his blonde friend was an incredible fighter, fiercely loyal, and would probably become the best Hokage ever known.
Naruto was just choosing his own path, it would take time, but he knew Konoha's knucklehead would prove everyone wrong. Including my father, he thought bitterly.
"I heard something interesting," Fugaku continued, not bothering to meet the inquisitive stares of family, "Apparently the Hokage's apprentice, what's her name?"
"Haruno Sakura," Mikoto chimed in, curious as to what her husband had to say.
"Hn," he said in agreement, "She received the highest scores in the kunoichi exams, and," he paused, his eyes finally lifting to meet Itachi's similar black orbs, "She ranked first in the strategical exams."
Despite the obvious tension, the Uchiha heir refused to back down from his father's gaze, "Hai," he said clearly and loudly.
Fugaku narrowed his eyes, "She did better than you."
"Hai," Itachi repeated.
The clan head's nostrils flared, "A Senju as Hokage was bad enough, but now she sent her damn apprentice to take over anbu," he seethed, a hand slamming on the table, "What's happened to the Uchiha name?!"
"No one else seems to be bothered by this, the rest of the clan is ignorant, moving forward with out even a peep, " he spoke with acid laced words, "Konoha can't trust us because they are afraid we are too powerful, so now they're just shunning us, placing restrictions on the Uchiha clan!"
"Fugaku!" Mikoto exclaimed, a hand reaching over to cover her husband's fist, "Let's talk about this later, ne? We're having such a nice family dinner right now."
His hand retreated back under the table, but he continued to glare at his older son, "I'm disappointed Itachi."
Mikoto felt her breathe hitch when her older son suddenly placed his chopsticks calmly beside his dish.
"I won't stand this," Itachi spoke before standing from his seat, he bowed deeply, "I'm sorry, but I'm leaving."
His mother stood up, chair screeching, "Itachi! But what's wrong?" she tried, suddenly turning towards her younger son, who stood up as well.
He bowed, "Gomen."
"Sasuke," Mikoto whispered, her hand grasping the back of the chair.
Itachi turned away, the Uchiha crest sharply contrasting with the black of his outfit, "This has been going on too long, Otou-san. Either you learn to let go of things that happened years ago, or you will lose two sons," his fist clenched and his back tensed, "I will not be part of any war you start."
The woman watched as both her sons left the room one after the other, her dark orbs turning towards her husband.
With pursed lips, she let her eyes bleed red, "This is your fault Fugaku."
She left the kitchen, disappearing into the shadows of the dark house.
Important! This Uchiha conflict won't last very long. It's almost like a side story happening just within the head family. It's mostly only Fugaku who's having problems with the Hokage, no one else in the Uchiha clan. I just wanted to evolve Fugaku's character within this story itself. You'll see.
Anyway, THANK YOU SO MUCH, I've received so much love from you guys. I will be turning this into a full blown story, and will be devoting my time to this because I feel it has potential as well.
This was a short chapter because I wanted to set things up a bit more, but future chapters will be longer.
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