Promise
Once Sakura was in her house, she closed the door with a quiet click. "Mom, I'm home with the juice you wanted!" She called, shaking the juice to make its sloshing sound.
Sakura's mom came in and greeted her, and looked at the juice carton. "Peach nectar; my favorite," she murmured. "Let's go in the kitchen. I finished making the hanazushi."
They walked into the kitchen were a table was half-set. As Sakura washed her hands, Seirei finished setting the table then laid the out the sushi, and much to Sakura's delight, it was in the shape of a cherry blossom.
"Delicious!" commented Sakura.
Seirei smiled. "I'm happy you like it. So what happened while I was gone?"
Sakura told her all that happened in the past few months.
"I'm glad Sasuke is back in Konoha." Sakura's mom exhaled a sigh of relief.
Sakura nodded her head. "But he's on probation, so he won't have any missions for another year."
The older woman raised an eyebrow. "Tsunade's being very . . . lenient."
"Well I am her apprentice, Mom, so it's likely Tsunade-sensei will sympathize with me and lower his punishment. Besides," she continued, "it was either that or the death sentence."
The rest of dinner was spent in silence. When Sakura was full, she excused herself from the table and went upstairs for a shower and bed. Set as a nightly routine before she went to sleep, she removed the locket that was hidden beneath her clothes, gave it a quick kiss, and set it gently on her dresser.
Back downstairs, Seirei was busy washing her plate. When she was done with that, she started to put away the leftover hanazushi, until a rapping sound was heard on her window. A bird was outside and continued to annoyingly peck at the window. She let the bird in and it perched on the perching stand in the room. After she untied the letter from its foot, she finished putting away the sushi, then looked at the letter.
It was a request for a mission:
Seirei Haruno,
The Konohagakure ANBU has requested for you to go on an investigation mission to Iwagakure. The mission is expected to take seven or eight months.
If you choose to accept, please sign your name below on the line and send this message back with the same carrier bird.
Furious that they would request her for another mission so quickly, Seirei grabbed a pen and wrote on the back that she does not accept and that she will be spending time with her daughter instead. She retied the letter to the bird, and roughly let it fly.
She knew very well that Sakura was going on a mission tomorrow and it was expected to take a week or month. But the mission she was requested for was one that could take several months. She had just come back home too! Why do they always ask for me? There are other capable ninjas out there! She thought angrily.
Seirei was still fuming until she passed by a picture of her, a young Sakura, and a young Sasuke.
Well, I'm keeping the promise I made to you Sasuke. She's happier now that I'm around more, and I never knew a lot about her until I lessened the number of missions I went. She made a small smile Thank you, for making me promise.
Short chapter. Sorry, but that's all I could think of for this one.