The rest of my visit with Tsunade went much more along the lines of what I'd been initially expecting. There came a regular check-up, the jotting of notes of my blood pressure, height and weight to update my medical chart. Afterwards, I was summarily threatened that I would come back the moment I noticed any strong personality change or someone close to me reported one.

"And, uh..." I hesitated as I was leaving. "Since I'm in therapy until presumably forever… What do I do if I have a long mission and I can't go?"

Tsunade didn't look up from her desk, where she had turned to work on her notes. "Then you will call their office and reschedule like a good girl, won't you?"

I sagged in relief. "Yes, of course. Thank you." I had been nervous that it would result in yet another thing to keep me away from missions. Having to reschedule a new appointment was something I was perfectly happy to do. "And I'm allowed to talk to my therapist about… everything?"

"Please do," she said crisply. "That's what they're for."

"Right, good. Awesome. Thanks."

I walked out of her office and through the waiting room with a spring in my step but paused as soon as I exited into the hall.

"Hello," a woman said. She was lying on a stretcher with her leg propped up. "I'm waiting for Tsunade."

I stared blankly at her leg. "Where's your attendant?"

She shrugged. "They just told me Tsunade would be taking care of me."

"Right," I said hollowly, eyes still glued to her leg. "I'll uh, go let her know." I backed slowly through the waiting room before whirling around and flinging Tsunade's door open.

Her eyes rose to mine, and while her flat expression from earlier hadn't changed, there was a spark of concern in her eyes. "Did you have some more questions?"

"Tsunade, someone left a woman with a compound fracture out in the hallway."

She closed her eyes and put her head in both hands. "Which bone?"

"Tibia. I'd say that's a guess, but I got a clear look of it jutting out of her skin," I said. "I think she's already been given pain medication and what kind of hospital is this?" My voice climbed higher and faster as I spoke on. "Why are they leaving people outside your office? What is your check-in procedure?"

Tsunade groaned and stood from her desk. She muttered in a low voice as she passed me in the doorway, "And this, kid, is why I have alcohol."

Other than the crushing of any remaining faith I had in Konoha's organisational structures, I left the hospital without further incident.

It was a warm spring day with a gentle sun and scattered clouds. With the day I had been having, I decided I deserved to treat myself to my favourite kind of lunch date: one where I was alone. I sat outside of a small cafe, mulling over everything that had happened.

For one, I'd neglected to ask Tsunade about just whose chakra I had trying to invade my brain. I would have assumed it was some sort of weird spiritual link between my old life and this one, but she'd said before that she recognised the foreign chakra. Therefore, not just a part of me.

Which was unfortunate, because if it was me, then I'd have a definitive answer as to whether my other life was real or not.

I stared out into the streets, chewing vacantly. While it was comforting that Konoha had some version of HIPPA that would let me talk to my therapist, I was nonetheless growing more disturbed by how the town as a whole operated. I had almost been willing to suspend my disbelief on the whole child soldiers thing, given the town at least seemed to start us off small. Most genin likely wouldn't face truly dangerous situations until they were far older. The problem was that there were no restrictions in place; Team Gai being a grand example. It didn't seem to be discouraged for younger ninja to try to fling themselves into more dangerous roles. If anything, it seemed like there was a great encouragement.

And of course, even if you weren't looking at the young genin directly, you could look at cases such as Naruto and Sasuke. Even before becoming shinobi, they'd been forced into adulthood far too young. Who knew how many more children like them there were? In a village of ninja, there was probably a higher percentage of orphans than a peaceful population would have. And from my reading, I'd had the impression the town was still in recovery from war.

Even if Sasuke's case was a little extreme, cases like Naruto were likely common. Though I'd never been told about Naruto's parents, there was a high likelihood they had either been ninja or civilians caught in the crossfire.

Plus, with the hospital being a complete mess even with people like Tsunade trying to twist it into order, that would also affect the mortality rate.

I twisted my noodles idly around my chopsticks. So given what I know, what kind of place is Konoha for the average child right now?

"You're killin' me, Smalls," I mumbled in English. I pushed the last of my noodles into my mouth and cleaned up before trekking out on the streets.

Kakashi had been right about not getting too attached to a single goal; it never took you long to find a new one. Just what on earth had I thought I was accomplishing by learning to throw senbon and swing swords? What did I think the result would be? This wasn't a game. Those exercises were all for killing people.

(Red blood)

And killing people was the exact opposite of everything I believed in. Everything that made me… Well, me.

Why did Sakura want to be a ninja originally? I wondered. From what I'd gleaned, we'd been incredibly similar. When I'd awoken in the hospital the second time, Tsunade had said my spiritual chakra signature hadn't changed. While Kakashi had been worried I was an imposter, at first, it had only been due to a strange fluctuation in my chakra.

So if our "spirit" was the same… What was Sakura's goal?

Maybe I'd have to ask Naruto or Sasuke what she'd originally said, the first time they'd made introductions. Or my parents.

I stopped in the middle of the street.

When did I start thinking of them as my parents?

I frowned. It could just be a natural development from having them play a parental role in my life, but it could also be the sort of thing that Tsunade would consider a change in my personality. Were there any other differences in how I viewed the world lately..?

Come to think of it, Ino had been reminding me less and less of my sister the more I spent time with her. Tsunade also. And Naruto didn't remind me of my brother at all anymore. Was that also just because I'd gotten used to them?

It's slight, but it's a thing to keep an eye on.

Because goodness knows I needed more problems to worry about.

"Are you okay, young lady?" A passing woman had stopped to give me a worried look.

Oops. Standing in the middle of the street and spacing out is probably not a good look. "I'm fine! I was just… Actually, do you know where the nearest pet supply shop is?"

I had a lot of problems. Konoha had a lot of problems. I couldn't even begin to guess how long it would take to deal with both to my satisfaction. But at least when it came to my friends, there were small things I could do immediately.

It wasn't much later that I found myself strolling into Uchiha Compound, arms laden with various pet supplies. I hadn't wanted to get the cat itself without Sasuke. For one, I didn't even know when he'd be home. For another, it was the kind of decision that really should come down to him.

I hefted the bag of cat litter more securely in my arms and walked up to his front door. I doubted it would be unlocked, but I could at least stack the items outside for him to bring in later.

To my surprise, his door creaked open. A dishevelled and exhausted Sasuke walked out to stare at me. "What are you... Oh."

I readjusted the litter bag again. "Yeah, I just wanted to get some stuff for you, for the cat. Um..."

He reached forward and took the cat litter and cat food bags to my immediate relief. They hadn't been particularly heavy, but my arms had been getting tired after walking for so long.

He sighed and jerked his head toward the interior of the house. "Alright, come on."

I followed him in and swiftly kicked off my shoes, following him down the hall. "You're back really early! Easy mission?"

He grunted. "Not really. Neji's annoying, but he's pretty decent at planning things out."

"Ah, gotcha." That honestly put his previous mission with Lee into perspective. Maybe it hadn't been a matter of Gai-sensei being a taskmaster so much as Lee doing things… inefficiently. Yeah, I can see them running behind schedule if Lee felt the need to do three-hundred squats after every setback.

I unloaded the shopping bags to the floor and we began sorting through them.

"Seriously, Sakura?" Sasuke asked, holding up a sequin-encrusted food bowl.

"It was on sale," I defended. It had, in fact, been one of the more expensive ones.

He shot me a look that clearly said he'd seen through the lie, but he let it pass and we finished setting everything up.

Supplies in place, he crossed his arms and sighed. "Okay, let's get this over with."

I raised my eyebrows. "What, getting the cat? It can wait, Sasuke. You look exhausted. I already feel bad enough for waking you up. Sorry if I was making too much noise or something earlier, I guess everything just got heavy after a while."

He shook his head. "Wasn't that. It was… I think I've just gotten used to your chakra." He shrugged. "Yours and Naruto's, anyway." He grabbed a satchel off the table and swung it over his shoulder. "And stop panicking, it's fine."

"Huh?"

"You're wringing your hands again." He nodded once in my direction, and sure enough, I had been twisting my hands together without noticing.

"Oh," I said. I felt my face grow warm. I'd honestly never really paid much attention to it, but now that I thought about it, it was something I did often. I pulled my hands apart and flexed them before putting them to my sides. It felt awkward, but he was already walking out the door, so at least I didn't have a witness.

I slipped on my shoes and followed him out. "So what kind of cat are you thinking of? A kitten? A quiet one, a playful one?"

He grunted. "Wasn't thinking about it." He frowned. "Do you know any places that have cats? Or are we just going to walk around until we find a stray?"

My lips twitched. "They have some rescues at the pet supply store. I think the local ninjas are pretty good about getting the strays to shelters. Come on."

A short time later, we found ourselves standing in front of a long row of cages.

"Oh, Sasuke, look at these guys!" I cooed, walking over to where a bunch of cream and orange cats were rubbing up against the bars. "Look how fluffy they are! And they're so sweet!"

"… Is this cat for me or you?"

I shot him a half-hearted glare. "I want visitation rights. I need to make sure you remember to feed it."

"It's a cat," he grumbled. "Cats hunt."

When my glare became genuine, he rolled his eyes. "Fine. Sure. Visit whenever, don't respect my personal space, give me cats."

"Perfect!" I turned back and resumed murmuring at the kittens. He sighed and shuffled closer to the cages reluctantly before pausing.

"I'm getting this one."

"Hmm?" I turned to face him again and saw that a small dark paw had darted from the cage and had claws buried in his sleeve. "Uh. Just like that?"

He shrugged, disentangling the claws from his shirt. "She seems to think so. Don't see any point in arguing."

And that's how I found myself walking out of a pet supply store with Sasuke, a small black cat wrapped around his neck like a scarf and purring like an engine.

"So do you have a name in mind yet?" I asked, reaching over to scratch her head. She mostly ignored me, all of her attention focused on kneading her claws through Sasuke's shirt.

"Sarada," he said.

"Huh. Does that mean something?" My internal vocabulary bank was drawing a blank. If anything, it mostly sounded like 'salad'.

He shrugged, the cat around his shoulders shifting with the movement like a liquid. "Just a name."

I smiled. "It's a nice name."

I walked with them and saw them get settled in at home. Seeing him carefully fill her food and water and nonchalantly scratching between her shoulder blades (to her purring delight) convinced me more than ever that this had been an excellent idea.

The highlight was watching him gently place her in the litter box, muttering, "Make sure you know where it is and how to use it, or I'm dropping you off with Naruto to learn together." It would have been a little concerning, but there was something nice in knowing that if nobody else, Sasuke at least felt comfortable making conversation with a cat.

It was early evening by the time I left, but I was thankfully able to convince Sasuke that I'd survive the twenty-minute walk alone without getting attacked. I closed the door behind me with the distinct feeling that Sasuke would be sleeping that night with a purring mass lying on him.

I smiled as I walked home.

A cat was definitely the right choice for him. It was a common misconception that cats only purred when they were happy. Cats were often found to do so when they were anxious or injured. It was a known phenomenon that cats purred at a frequency that lent well to tissue and bone regeneration. As such, another very common place to find them purring was with another cat, when the other cat was sick, injured, or upset.

Or with their human, when the human was unwell.

I smiled more widely, glad we'd found Sasuke a new family member who wanted to take care of him.