Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in it.

XX.

"Well, how are doing?" Kioshi pushed her lightly with his elbow.

"Great."

"When did you sleep for the last time?" He bent down so that he could get a clearer view of her face. "There are interesting violet orbs around your eyes."

"Kioshi, leave her alone." Takumi scolded.

They sat inside the Amaguirama cafe with big, steaming cups of tea in front of them. Jakushi watched through the windows as the wind blew into the trees' crowns. The green leaves danced to the breath of spring as busy birds made noise, trying to find a suitable home.

"Konoha's winters go so fast. Barely three months and the trees are blossoming." Kioshi noted thoughtfully. "I wish they're longer sometimes."

"You're mad." Takumi shook his head. "Freezing to the bone every day. I don't get what you like about that."

"I don't know. I like it." Kioshi shrugged, standing up. "I'll be right back."

As soon as he moved away, Takumi reached for Jakushi's palm and tapped on it gently.

"Jakushi," He leaned in, searching for her eyes. "I will do anything..."

She slowly focused her hollow eyes on him.

"You can't." Jakushi smiled at him. "I'll only hurt you more if I speak."

Takumi stared at her for a while before leaning back, eyes slightly narrowing.

"Just trying to let you know you can still count on me. I am here and will be, as long as I live."

"I know that, Takumi," Jakushi said in a whisper. "I appreciate your endless support and I know I don't deserve it."

"I will not give up, you know." Takumi slightly tilted his head. "Never."

Jakushi took a deep breath but it trembled distinctly. Her eyes parted his in a

"Stop torturing yourself." Takumi folded hands. "He's not worth it."

"Don't speak like you know everything." Jakushi gave him a warning in a low voice. "Just don't."

"Uchiha." Takumi scoffed. "You fell for the trap, didn't you? Another one of their countless victims. It's been weeks."

"I am not another victim." Speaking every word clearly, Jakushi looked at him, the anger discernible in her intonation.

"They are the masters of deception. You are no match." Takumi leaned on the table, trying to keep a calm intonation.

"I know." Jakushi passed a hand over her eyes. "I can't explain it, Takumi. It's not just an attraction. I felt... connected. On another level."

Takumi lowered his eyes to the table.

"I told you it will only hurt you if I speak." Jakushi mouthed quietly.

"It's alright. Speak to me, if it will make you feel better." He shrugged. "I wanna hear all about the mass murderer."

His words pierced through her and she pursed her lips in order to stop the words from flowing. She held them back but Takumi's bitter expression only upset her more.

"Back," Kioshi announced, sitting next to them.

But Jakushi stood up sharply and headed to the exit at a fast pace, which startled the brothers. They exchanged glances before deciding to follow her, leaving the cups on the table.

They evened out with her but the cafe was already far behind them.

"I am sorry, ok?" Takumi looked down. "Peace?"

"If you are to speak badly about Uchiha Itachi you haven't got a clue what it is to be a shinobi." Jakushi stopped again and Kioshi gave her a perplexed look that quickly shifted toward his brother.

"I've missed a fight."

"You haven't missed anything." She sighed with exasperation. "Just leave me alone, guys. I'm not feeling very well today. I'll go home."

"Uh... no." Kioshi folded hands. "We're not leaving you in this state. You live a half-life in the last few weeks and the three of us know why."

"I apologize." Takumi put hands in his pockets. "I spoke without thinking."

"It's alright." Jakushi shrugged. "I stopped caring about what people think long ago."

"You see, we don't wanna be just people. We are your team." Kioshi slightly tilted his head. "Come back to us, please."

Jakushi furrowed at him, hit with the sudden realization that she has forgotten how they looked like, both of them. She met them almost every day in the last weeks but it was as if she hasn't and their faces were distant and unfamiliar. All this time she spent in her head dragged her away from the present and the reality, it was so frustrating to know she's been with people and she's visited places but in fact, her thoughts have been stuck on a single person and they didn't give her peace of mind.

"Alright. I'm here with you now. What do you want me to do?"

"Smile, for a start." Takumi bumped her shoulder. "You're being a dark cloud since forever."

Smile? How do you do that?

The thought only saddened Jakushi more. She reiterated the last conversation she had with him over and over. Every time she thought about it she concluded it was only a natural end to their relationship, it was the best and wisest choice to let go. He was right and she - wrong. And no one was at fault.

He tried to reach her a couple of times, called her and searched for her but she refused to meet him. Facing him would mean surrender. They had to stay apart, that was the only way. It was that one night she saw him standing outside her house, peering into her window when she almost gave up and ran to him but... she didn't. It wasn't what her heart desired, it was what her mind coerced. She pulled the curtain and cried for hours then. He stopped coming after that night.

It hurt like nothing before to lose his gentle touch and that heavy heart of his she loved so much. She missed the way he moved as if a veritable prince had escaped from her mother's stories and had found his way to her reality, twisting her world. He was noble, in every sense and she was a trite soul, not worthy of his presence. At least that's what she thought. It was her blame to fall so deep, knowing what she'll bring upon herself. Leading herself to a path that ended in tears and pain was entirely her own fault. Life wasn't her mother's stories, though, she wished it was. Her place was among her friends and family and they were there for her. Not being able to see that, blinded by longing for something impossible, was unforgivable. She let her teammates and her closest down.

It wouldn't hurt her to try and reconstruct her life, the way it was once. Starting from Takumi and Kioshi. They were right to ask of her what they did. It wasn't fair for her to act like that. She promised to try and find the strength to overcome her pain and forget her feelings. That's what a shinobi would do.

A wide smile appeared on her face and it almost frightened Takumi and Kioshi, leaving them generally surprised.

"You guys wanna go and train? It's been a while." Her smile transformed into a smirk.

"Hell yeah, we do." Takumi wrapped his hand around her shoulder and led her down the alley, casting a glance at his brother. "Right?"

"Of course." Kioshi sighed, walking next to them with a pleased smile on his lips.

The afternoon passed slowly.

Jakushi took the time to enjoy her teammates' presence to the extent of distracting herself from the burden her mind carried. While the training lasted, that is. They were in the forest, on that meadow she used to love so much. Within the moment they laid on the ground, exhausted, her memories returned with unrelenting force. Eyes closed, she could breathe in the fresh scent of grass. It was almost time, the blossoming season.

Yet her heart and mind froze in time. The vigor that came along with spring wasn't affecting her in any way. Glad to see at least Takumi and Kioshi were having fun while moving at lightning speed and destroying a small part of the forest with some serious Earth and Fire techniques, she found out that her Shadow Techniques have gone really bad. It's been weeks since she trained her concentration. Good thing was, her skills with the katana were just as fine as before, neither of the brothers could defeat her. The light and warm breeze caressed their, now covered with sweat, foreheads as they rested on the soft bed of field flowers.

She couldn't believe she survived more than eight weeks without him. But you get used to everything, as hard as it seems. Just that her life appeared even, like a calm sea on a summer morning. She didn't mind it calm and safe but it was monotonous and... empty.

Empty.

Jakushi opened her eyes and looked at the sky. There was no sunlight... strange. Matter-of-fact, she thought that winter quite long for some reason and it must've been the complete lack of sun.

"Pfffft," Takumi scoffed. "Every. Single. Time."

"Yeah, annoying."

Jakushi heaved up to a sitting position, look over to the brothers.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"You've drifted away again, haven't you?"

"Uh, we were talking," Kioshi said right after his brother, trying to appease the situation. "about the upcoming celebration."

Jakushi tried to gather her thoughts back and try to remember the date but to no avail. Her wrinkled brows wrested a heavy sigh from Takumi.

"Hanami."

"Oh!" She exclaimed. "Did the time come already?"

"Yeah. The thing is, my family has invited tons of relatives for the occasion."

"Again." Kioshi murmured.

"It will be hellish."

Jakushi chuckled.

"What's so wrong with relatives?"

"They're getting on my nerves," Takumi explained right away. "Little cousins that scream and shout at their loudest, elders that ask you about your personal life and other people that you don't know but find great pleasure in interrogating you."

"I understand." Jakushi nodded. "But it sure sounds fun."

"It's not," Kioshi growled.

A brief silence spread between them as Jakushi enveloped her legs with hands, looking down at the grass. Time has flown away, hasn't it? She wasn't exactly in the mood for a festival but perhaps a festival was just the thing she needed in order to cheer up. Although Hanami held a rather tragic meaning. The evanescence of life and beauty.

"Tell me you're gonna come." Takumi pleaded. "That way we'll have a way to sneak away from the annoying bunch."

"You are very close with your family, I see."

"I barely stand Kioshi."

Jakushi smiled at him, shaking her head.

"I'm not sure I'll be coming. Father doesn't take it very well, celebrating that festival. It reminds him of mom. He used to avoid it for years."

"He might make an exception if I ask him to," Takumi smirked.

"Seriously? You're teaming up with my dad?" Jakushi raised a brow.

"He would team up with the sun if it meant you'll come." Kioshi intervened dryly but his brother hit him in the ribs.

"Well, I'll talk with him about it." Jakushi shrugged. "I think I want to go out and see people. It'd be a good change."

"Dad?" Jakushi called out, stripping down her jacket and proceeding to hang in on the metallic hood next to her. "Hello? Dad?"

Her brother came down the stairs after a few seconds and turned around, to the kitchen.

"He went out, said he'll be meeting a friend of his and might get late 'till he's back. So we're on our own now."

"Right." Jakushi sighed. "I guess I'll be making dinner then. And you won't be helping me."

"Nope." Saizo slipped away from the kitchen, quickly heading back to his room.

"That's what I thought." Jakushi murmured.

She wasn't quite in the mood for cooking so she decided it would be nice to go with something easy. The soba noodles she bought a week ago were perfect for the case. They required a little time to get cooked and tasted delicious.

After setting them to boil, she proceeded to make the sauce with the sesame oil, red pepper, the soy sauce... her thoughts had already drifted when she started cutting the scallion and the bunch of cilantro on the wooden board she took next to the sink. It wasn't that bad to have all those skills from an early age. Of course, everyone would've preferred to have a parent to look after them for as long as they can simply because the basics like cooking, cleaning and earning money weren't things that were supposed to fall on the children's shoulders.

However, in extreme circumstances, the children had to take the responsibility for almost everything. Cleaning and cooking weren't that much of a problem because she got used to it. The greater problem was having to act as a substitute for her mother for the sake of her brother. Sometimes she had to act like her father too when he was absent. All that tired her out. Not that she wanted to play these roles, it felt like an obligation of some kind.

Even though she didn't think about it as seriously her brother was involuntarily transferring the mother figure on her often enough, which bothered her. What was even stranger was that her father mixed up the way he saw her too, often acting with her as if she was a close friend and not a daughter whom he had to treat accordingly.

Being a mother, a friend, a daughter, a sister and a shinobi at once was exhausting. Good thing she wasn't on top of a noble clan.

Her hand froze in the middle of her cutting for a moment but then slowly cut through the end.

They weren't so different in that matter.

She stuck the knife in the board angrily. Why did she keep thinking about something that was in the past? Over meant over.

Jakushi forced her mind to remain on the dinner and soon it was ready to eat, steam rising from the glass bowl she placed on the table. It was already a late afternoon and she was fairly hungry so pulling back the dinner time wasn't going to be that much of a deal. As she put two small cups and pairs of chopsticks, for herself and Saizo, the door clicked open.

Jakushi glanced at the corridor and smiled, seeing her father taking off his shoes.

"Smells delicious, Jakushi," Hajikata said, shifting to the kitchen at a slow pace.

"Thought you'll come back late."

"Eh... change of plans."

"I was just about to call Saizo," Jakushi announced. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes, actually." He sighed, taking his seat on the table. "Thank you for taking care of the food."

"Is everything alright?" Jakushi gave him another cup and pair of chopsticks.

"Yeah."

She wasn't convinced the truth was what he was saying it was because his intonations suggested something else. Still, she knew better than to pry and remained silent.

"Jakushi?" He inquired and made her raise her eyes to his. "How do you feel about Hanami?"

Jakushi smiled at him.

"I mean... I know we don't celebrate it since..."

"Why do you ask?" She spared him the inconvenience.

"Takahiro said we're most welcome to join them in the celebration." He caressed his forehead thoughtfully. "We'll be glad to have you with us, they said."

"Well?" Jakushi folded hands. "What are you thinking?"

Hajikata rested his hands on the table and shrugged.

"I think it's time..." He paused, hesitating. "It's time to move on."

Jakushi neared his father and hugged him as she was standing. He leaned on her with another sigh.

"Truth be told, Takumi and Kioshi tried to lure me, too. " She chuckled. "I bet they've conspired against us today."

"You are probably right."

"So, we're going this year?"

"Seems like it." Her father squeezed her hand lightly as she let him go.

"Good. Earlier... I also thought I'd like to go, you know." Jakushi tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'll call Saizo because the food will get cold before he gets here."

"You do that." Her father nodded, smiling.

Jakushi spent the rest of the day cleaning up her room. Her aim was not to clean the space to perfection but to tidy up a bit and find something... in particular. As her wardrobe was wide open and she folded most of her clothes on her bed, she finally reached the last layer and found what she was looking for. A sad smile appeared on her lips as she carefully took the soft matter in her hands and sat on the bed.

Her eyes blurred faster than she thought they will.

Fine floral embroidery covered the cloth in pink, red and gray flowers. Leaves and branches weaved along the length of the shoulders and arms, and tiny sparrows here and there, if you look closely. That kimono was a work of art and that's why she couldn't afford to cast it away after her death. It was, matter-of-fact, the only thing she had left from her mother, apart from the dagger.

Jakushi smoothed out the surface of the silk slowly. Wearing it on Hanami would be an honor and she knew her father won't mind. Neither would her mother.

Well...

She heaved a heavy sigh and stood up. Over meant over. Better try that kimono on and keep on cleaning. The lack of activity of any kind was only going to bring her to tears or anger her. Both of those conditions were, mildly said, useless at the moment.

A/N: Who said it's a great idea to write 3 fanfics at the same time? Nobody. Yet, I consider myself hardcore and I try to do that. Thanks for reading (and waiting lol). I don't know when I'll be able to write down the next chapter but I will, some time. Hope it's gonna be soon 'cause I really like that Hanami part. That part was something like a smooth transition, to let everyone know there was a time skip. You guys thought I forgot about you, right? Nope.