A/N: Long-ass chapter (at least by drabble standards). :D Expect a little family angst on Sakura's side. Also consider this as Sakura's 'turn'.
Sorry for not updating this since last month, but the teachers in our school had some STUPID idea to put test week, Integration week (something like project fair...IDK) and SATURDAY CLASSES (pray for me, that's 20 hours of sleep down the drain) IN THE SAME GODDAMNED MONTH, right after the QUARANTINE BREAK, so everything is CRAMMED together.
WHo am I to complain? I am THE CRAMMASTER! \m/
By the way, there's a poll on my profile for pairings in this story. Go there and VOTE!! (after you read and review, of course.)
Enjoy!
F is for family: Because everyone has weird relatives.
Our four favorite genii were (again) relaxing under their usual tree after training. Well, it wasn't exactly 'relaxing' per se, unless a tense game of shogi between a pineapple-headed genius versus a pink-haired one of the same smarts and caliber is relaxing.
Green eyes matched brown and narrowed into slivers as the woman picked up the knight. Brown eyes widened as she set the piece down on his king. A smirk was played on the woman's lips before they opened to speak.
"I—"
"Sakura-hime!" A high-pitched male voice rang through the training field, and 3 of the four genii turned to see who it was. The other was banging her head on the shogi board repeatedly crying, "Screw my life".
Neji raised an eyebrow at the kunoichi. "Sakura…hime?" He asked playfully.
"Sakura-hime!" The man repeated before tripping in a hole the Hyuuga's rotation created. The hime in question got up and ran to the brown-haired man in the hole.
She offered him her hand and pulled him out of the hole, continuously brushing dust off his yukata. "Wanatabe, what are you doing here?" She inquired after the man straightened himself out.
"You are due to visit home again, Sakura-hime, especially since Emi-onee-san has given birth. The family misses you so. Grandmother is missing you as well." Wanatabe explained, and the tick mark pulsing on Sakura's forehead getting larger at every word he said. "Is something the matter, Sakura-hime?"
The pink-haired kunoichi glanced at her 16-year old cousin, with his shaggy brown hair and green eyes, he almost reminded her of Kiba when he was younger. Thinking of the dog-nin, she raised her arm to strike the boy, but instead ended up sighing and patting his head affectionately. "Tell grandmother and the others that I'll come by the estate this Saturday, okay?" She smiled.
The boy bowed eagerly, repeating the action again and again in excitement. "Oh, yes Sakura-hime! Of course!" He was about to start off when Sakura's voice stopped him.
"But never, ever stop by during training ever again." She threatened, then shifted her features to beam at the brunette innocently. "Alright, Wanatabe?"
He bowed again, this time keeping his head down. "H-hai Sakura-hime!" And with that, he left.
Sakura glared at the spot Wanatabe occupied when she felt the three presences of her teammates approach her. One was scoffing.
"Sakura…hime?" Shikamaru questioned, leaning his head on his hands leisurely. "What's that about?"
Sakura slapped her forehead into her palm as she gave a loud, aggravated groan. "My last name may be Haruno, but that's my mother's family."
"We've already me your mother during the festival." Sasuke deadpanned.
"Well, you haven't met my father." the pinkette said, and the three men shook their heads, causing her to sigh. "His last name is Shiori."
Neji blinked rapidly, as if just realizing something. "You're the heir to the most powerful merchant family in Konoha?" He asked, disbelief evident in his voice.
"Supposedly not. Before I graduated the academy, my last name was Shiori. My parents thought my wanting to be a kunoichi was just a phase, so they played along. After I graduated though, they planned on disowning me. But since I am the favorite, they just decided to make me use my father's name and hide the fact I'm from the Shiori. Problem is, they don't want to go public because they're known to detest shinobi. My mother moved with me to make it inconspicuous."
Shikamaru implied the fact that all of them from prestigious clans and have to live with everyone else in their family. "Isn't that against clan law? By now, you would've been completely disowned."
"My family took pity on me, apparently. They still think that after I've had my fun as a kunoichi, I'll go back and become the head of the family. I don't understand why they won't take any of my cousins instead."
"Don't you want to be head of the family? I thought everyone did. Even Hyuuga over here." Sasuke pointed out.
She halted and turned towards her team with a menacing glare on her face. "If you want to know why I don't want to run that psycho circus, go find out for yourself! You guys come with me to the compound and see how amazingly horrible and bland and crazy my family is!" She cried, just before stomping away with a huff. Then she added loudly, "Sunday, 3 o'clock at my place!"
A few moments of awkward silence loomed over the three males as they watched their only female teammate disappear in the crowds.
"So does that mean…" Shikamaru trailed off, slightly confused on what the heck just happened.
"We're visiting her family this weekend." Neji finished, spinning on his heel and leaving the other two geniuses in the middle of the street.
"Troublesome."
--
In their uniforms was how Sakura saw them when she opened the door.
"Oh my fucking Kami." She groaned, clutching her pink hair between her fingers. "UNIFORMS? WHEN VISITING MY GODDAMNED FAMILY?"
The boys blinked repeatedly, not entirely ignoring the surge of déjà vu that passed right through them.
"FORMAL! HAVE YOU NOTICED HOW MY FAMILY DRESSED? WHAT IS IT WITH BOYS AND THINKING THAT A CLEAN UNIFORM IS ACCEPTABLE FOR A FAMILY OCCASION? OH MY GOD, ALL OF YOU ARE FROM THESE RICH-ASS NINJA FAMILIES, AND YOU CAN'T DRESS PROPERLY FOR A LUNCHEON?" She started droning, pulling on the white kimono-like top over her pastel green dress. Her shoes were white strap wedges that tied around her ankle, making it easy to slip off in the estate.
She walked over to the mirror by the doorway of her apartment and tied a white ribbon in the place of her headband without interrupting her long speech about proper attire. As she pulled on her silver bracelets, she walked to where her teammates were, grabbed the two closest ones by the elbows and dragged them towards the Shiori estate.
"Did you have to dress so fucking obviously in your shinobi gear?" She continued her rant, ignoring the stares (ahem, glares) people (cough – fangirls – cough) were giving her as she dragged two of Konoha's most wanted bachelors with another one trailing behind her. "Do you know how much my family disapproves of shinobi? They're probably the only ones in Konoha who aren't proud of me becoming ANBU! They didn't even go to our party! Such inconsiderate relatives!"
"Sakura…"
"They don't even drop by because it's too embarrassing to be in the lower district. I have a perfectly fine apartment and—"
"Sakura!"
"WHAT?"
The pink-haired medic turned to look at her three teammates, all pointing to large wooden gates with a flower carved on the front. The large tower that stood beside it revealed two guards, both who were looking down and waving at the group below.
"Sakura-hime, haven't seen you 'round here in a while!" One called down.
"Watanabe was sent to ask me to visit the estate a few days back! And you know you can't defy my grandmother!" She shouted back, plastering the genuine smile she was known for to replace the scowl she had for her teammates earlier.
"Well, it's just nice to see you hime! And you brought friends!" The other one cried, cupping his lips with his palm.
"Just my teammates, Toru-san! Will you open the gates please?"
At those words, the large wooden gates were opened, and the four ANBU walked in the compound belonging to the Shiori family. The streets were bricked with old cement stones (like in Rome), damp from the recent rain that fell upon Konoha. Large white houses paved the streets, the owners of the houses waving and bowing to Sakura as they moved along.
Sakura whirled around when she heard a snort. She crossed her arms across her chest, reminiscent of her mentor's own stance. "If you can't watch this without laughing, at least smile at them. You're scaring away my relatives with your death glares!"
"Hmph."
"Troublesome."
"Whatever."
"Men."
They arrived at the largest house in the compound and Sakura stepped up to ring the bell.
"IS THAT MY KURA-HIME?" A voice rang through the compound before the door flew open, revealing a tall, lithe male in a white and grey yukata. "Sakura-chan!"
Sakura jumped into the man's arms, hugging him around the torso tightly. "Daddy! I missed you so much!"
"Ne, Kura-hime, then why don't you visit anymore? Your mother lives here too you know." He scolded.
"Sorry Daddy. I've just been kind of busy, with missions…" She meekly tucked one heel behind the other as her head hung low.
"Sakura, you're still taking those useless missions?"
"They are not—"
"Sakura-chan!" A woman ran through the doorway and grabbed Sakura's small form into her arms. "Haven't seen you in a while my child!"
"Hi mom." Sakura deadpanned the greeting to her overly cheerful mother.
"Oo…and you brought some boys over!" The mother squealed at the sight of the three bishounen, while Mr. Haruno froze in his spot.
"B-b-boys? My Kura-hime brought boys?" He fumed.
"Mom, you've met my teammates, Neji, Sasuke and Shikamaru." Sakura pointed to each individual shinobi as she said their name.
"Oh yes, the handsome boys during the festival, am I right?" Haruka clapped her hands together as she bent down to her daughter's level and whispered; "I find Sasuke-kun the cutest. But Neji's quite handsome as well, ne? Too bad Shika-kun is already taken, right?"
Sakura blushed madly at her mother's comment. "Mother!"
"Come inside boys! I made some tea!"
Everyone filed inside except Haruno Ken, who continued to be frozen to the spot.
"B-boys?"
--
"Onee-chan!" A red-haired girl who looked to be around the age of 10 jumped into Sakura's arms, knocking her down onto the wooden floorboards. "Sakura-onee-chan, did you bring me something from that flea mark—"
Sakura slapped a hand down on the girl's mouth as her father eyed her carefully, disapproving of his daughter's peasant ways. "It's nothing…" She batted her eyelids (A/N: It can't be 'eyelashes', because that is physically impossible) at redhead man. "Daddy…"
Ken just shrugged it off and Sakura's head turned violently to her little cousin. "Emiko, if you ever mention what your Uncle Ken describes as pathetic and mundane in front of him again, I'm not gonna get you a pretty dress for your school dance." The pinkette threatened, and Emiko consented.
"Ooh, Sakura-onee-chan, who are these boys with you?" Emiko inquired after Sakura released her lips. "Maybe if I bring one of them to the school dance, Kimi would stop teasing me about my large forehead."
Sakura stiffened when she felt Sasuke by her head. "Sounds like someone I know…" He chanted.
A tick-mark appeared on the pinkette's forehead as she lifted her foot and aimed it at the back of the Uchiha's Konoha vest, right at the red swirl. The raven-haired man fell forward, causing a chuckle to escape the other two males in the room.
"BAKA! IT'S HEREDITARY!!" Sakura cried, straddling Sasuke's torso and bonking him on the head repeatedly with her fists.
"How unlady-like." A voice rang, and the occupants of the room looked up to see a regal older woman, dressed in a dark green and white embroidered kimono. Large emeralds and jade hung from magnificently carved wooden chopsticks in snow-white hair.
"Aa, grandmother!" Sakura instantly stood up and bowed halfway. "Gomenasai!"
"Sakura, when will you finally realize that being a kunoichi stains the image of a Shiori lady that you used to possess? Why can't we convince you that women were never meant to be ninjas? And who are these boys?"
The roseate female twitched as her grandmother bombarded her with questions. "A-anou, grandmother, these are my—"
"Disgusting and disrespectful! Do all kunoichi wear skirts as short as that! I will not have my granddaughter look like a slut—"
"Enough, grandmother!" Sakura cried, nearly ripping her short pink locks out in annoyance. When she attempted to do this, seven pairs of eyes shot directly towards her.
"Sakura, calm down! Listen to your—" Her mother tried to relax the ANBU medic, but Sakura merely continued.
"I love my job! I don't care what the family has to say about it! I love saving lives at the hospital! I love the feeling of relief when I save one of my teammates from certain death!" She announced, flinging her arm backwards to point at her teammates.
"But…"
"Short skirts are easier to move around in! If we suddenly got attacked right here, I'm not going to run in a goddamned kimono! It doesn't matter if I shop in the flea market either! They actually have nice stuff! You've tried controlling my life—how I dress, my job, you even tried marrying me off to some weirdo in Kiri!" She took deep breaths as she slouched forwards, regaining equilibrium.
The room waited for a response—parents flabbergasted by their daughter's outburst, grandmother disgusted by the spur of her granddaughter's out-of-line behavior. Her team watched intently, as they always do, with the eyes of geniuses, which look deeper into situations like these as compared to a normal human. On the other hand, little Emiko watched, the Shiori family's signature emerald green eyes hinting the pride she held for her cousin, but quickly hid it after remembering her stern grandmother.
The response they were waiting for happened as Sakura pivoted on her heel and turned towards the door.
"I think it would be best if I did get disowned."
--
Sakura sat it the tall cherry blossom tree in her team's usual training field. She fiddled with a disembodied twig with a single petal still sitting at the pointy end of the twig. She swung her legs casually over the side of the branch like she always does, staring up at the sky dreamily.
3 whooshes resonated through the clearing, marking the presence of her three teammates in the upper branches of the tree.
"Meanies! You made the petal fall!" Sakura whined, a sarcastic edge to her statement. Dropping back to lean on the tree trunk, she glanced up to see the three genii sitting casually in the branches above her. "So, what do you guys want?"
"Your family won't disown you." Sasuke stated bluntly and, being the nearest, kicked the back of her head gently.
Neji crossed his arms and twisted backwards to give the impression he was facing the pinkette. "With your little speech, you somehow convinced your family that you truly love your job."
Shikamaru sighed, tucking his hands behind his head and leaning on the trunk. "We even went through the trouble of showing them around Konoha and letting them meet some of our friends and your patients." He muttered.
"To summarize, you have a nice family." Sasuke concluded, right before adding; "nicer than mine was, at least" at the end.
Sakura smiled and looked up to see her three boys basking in the sun, enjoying this period of relaxation. "Thanks," She whispered contentedly.
"By the way, you said something about 'Loving the feeling of seeing my teammates alive." Shikamaru noted.
"So…?"
"Does that mean you love us?" Neji smirked as he watched Sakura hide her head in embarrassment.
"No!" Sakura quickly answered, before shrinking back. "Well, maybe…but I WILL NOT hesitate to kill you either."
Next chapter preview:
"Life lesson for my dear boys."
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