Once again, thank you for your never ending patience. My final semester of university took up most of my time and other writing drafts haha.

I really relate a lot to Hannah in this chapter so I enjoyed writing it and I hope you will as well.

I tried going for a bit of humor but not sure if it comes across.

Anyway, please enjoy!

'Calm down.'

This was a bad idea.

'Deep breaths.'

Why did she think she could do this?

'Get a hold of yourself.'

Her stomach twisted into another uncomfortable knot.

'Don't throw up!'

Heartbeat thumping in her throat and eyes darting to either side of her Sakura was seriously reconsidering this whole ninja business.

In the weeks that followed her first day of work Sakura glady relished in the sense of accomplishment that washed over her. The ever present nausea that constantly plagued her had been dampened. Still there but now she had a job and a new friendship to distract herself from it.

Her work days involved doing the main chores in the morning, making something for lunch and the rest of the afternoon was spent doing whatever Naoko decided on. Things like going for walks, going to the market or finishing whatever didn't get done in the morning. Naoko's favorite was having Sakura reading out loud to her. The woman had a surprisingly large collection of books and though she leaned more towards biographies or poetry there was the occasional fictional novel thrown into the mix. Naoko still called her 'girl' but it no longer held the same sting it initially had. The older woman also didn't mind that Sakura made 'unusual' meals. Nothing complicated of course.

Truthfully, Sakura had been craving the meals from Hannah's world. She was dying for a hamburger and fries or pizza, god she would give anything for a pizza. She tried her best to replicate some of the more simple meals while her parents were away but options were limited by both her size and the ingredients in the house. Masami also loved making fun of her 'eccentric' eating habits but ate them with vigor nonetheless.

The two of them continued studying together whenever they could, Masami pointing out which books would be useful and Sakura helping out with vocabulary whenever Masami got stuck. Aside from that Masami would drag her out to the stores she liked, usually the ones that sold sweets or they'd tend to Naoko's garden together. The older woman agreed to allow Masami to begin growing her own stock of herbs and begrudgingly offered Sakura a spot for any medicinal plants she wanted to try her hand at growing.

Her parents had returned form their trip a few days ago and Sakura had tentatively told them about her newly acquired job. Her mother only raised an eyebrow at the news but to Sakura's surprise her father ruffled her hair and practically beamed at her. He didn't say anything, just ruffled her hair and smiled. With her eyes wide, Sakura could only stare at him in response. It had been weeks since he'd done that and she couldn't stop her heart from swelling. She had to force the tears building up behind her eyes to remain in place and instead send her father a timid smile of her own. The moment was over before you could blink but it did happen and it gave Sakura some hope that maybe things wouldn't always be like this. Maybe someday she could have a decent relationship with her parents, or at least with her father.

That didn't give her any comfort during her current predicament though.

On the days she didn't have work Sakura had continued wandering around Konoha and had found a kind of second hand store that sold outdated ninja gear. The owner, a stout middle-aged man, had been nice enough to make a list of things she'll be needing for the academy and he also gave her a general idea of where the cheapest items would be sold if he didn't stock them himself.

Her wanderings had also led her to find a shop that sold wigs for a fair price and when she received her first paycheck she got the most plain Jane brown wig she could find. The length of it reached just past her shoulders and even though it probably wasn't the best in terms of quality but it would have to do.

Integrating this 'new girl' into her routine was a little tedious. Sakura made a point of wearing the wig while visiting the library at different times than she normally would go. While she wasn't sure if it was entirely necessary to invest time into doing so, Sakura didn't feel like taking any chances in case someone got suspicious. She made sure to keep to the children's section of the library and kept any conversations to polite surface level topics. Luckily she was left alone for the most part. It was a little boring to be honest and if this is what infiltration was like then Sakura wanted nothing to do with it. Sure she was patient but this whole waiting and pretending to be someone else was a lot less fun than it was made out to be.

Nevertheless her moment of opportunity revealed itself one dreary day and Sakura knew she needed to grasp it quickly. The ninja that had been there when she arrived was in the midst of being replaced by a civilian librarian and at the same time an elderly gentleman had interrupted the changeover. Now the ninja and librarian appeared to be stuck in conversation with both their attention solely on the elderly man.

'Okay, we can do this. I can do this.'

Setting her shoulders back and with a deep breath she began making her way to the genin section.

'Look like you know where you're going.'

Keeping her posture as relaxed as she could, Sakura carefully made her way towards the invisible line that separated two different sections of the library. She felt heat flushing along her neck and a light sheen of sweat forming on her brow as if someone had suddenly decided to turn the library into a furnace.

'Relax.'

It was a little comical how easy it was to slip by. Sakura had been imagining violent alarm bells going off the moment her foot crossed over but there was nothing. In fact she took a few steps in before turning around, half expecting all of the library's occupants to be staring at her, and found that no one even spared her a glance.

'Don't just stand there!' Robotically turning away from the librarian's desk, she marched herself further into the genin section till she was out of sight.

Then Sakura just stood there. Rows and rows of scrolls and books on either side of her and she just stood there. 'Now what?' Truth be told Sakura hadn't thought she'd get this far nevermind actually taking something and reading it. Her stomach began twisting, she shouldn't be here. How was she going to explain herself? How was she going to leave?

Eyes widening, Sakura quickly peered back over to the desk, the librarian was now occupying the desk with a stack of returned books waiting to be processed. Sakura moved back further into the library, hand on her chest, forcing herself to take deeply timed breaths.

'Calm down.'

Her heart seemed to be beating in her throat as she turned her eyes to either side of her, looking for the best escape option. She could try sneaking back the same way she came and at least if she got caught then the tears she would burst into would most certainly be genuine.

She didn't like getting in trouble. Never had.

Hannah's brothers were no strangers to mischief and frequently got into trouble for things she considered just plain stupid. They always made fun of her for being a goody two shoes but she couldn't help it. Whenever her friends decided to break the rules she would be the one on the fringes, usually trying to talk some sense into them or making sure things didn't go too far. There were times she wished she was more adventurous or brave but most of the time her chest just constricted with anxiety whenever she dared to cross the line.

This wasn't to say she never broke the rules. Hannah had once gone to a party her parents wouldn't have allowed her to attend since it was unsupervised but. All she said was she was going to a sleepover and that part was the truth. She did feel a little nauseous and paranoid throughout the night but it was one of her favorite memories.

The same nausea that was constantly in the pit of her stomach was suddenly back in full force.

'Deep breathes, deep breathes.'

Just as she was about to hurl, a book on the shelf in front of her moved. With bated breath she watched as the person on the other side leisurely perused the contents before moving on.

'Bingo.'

If she were outside, Sakura would have dropped to her knees in gratitude to whatever gods would listen. Moving further down the aisle she peered through the walk of books, not only checking to see if someone was on the other side but also to see if there was a big enough gap on the bottom shelf to slip through.

Soon enough she found a spot and began carefully moving various reading materials out of the way. Sending another prayer of thanks for her small stature, Sakura hastily crawled through before twisting back around to replace everything where she found them.

Cautiously she stood and made her way to the exit.

'Don't be suspicious, don't be suspicious.'

Her body was shaking with a potent combination of adrenaline and nerves by the time she made it outside.

Miraculously she made it home without any issue.

Sakura trudged towards her bedroom, changed her clothes, took off the wig, walked into her bathroom and promptly emptied the contents of her stomach.

'We're so screwed.'

How was she going to manage sneaking into the academy? There was no way she could even make it past the door if this was going to be her body's response. And what about when she actually entered the academy? Or graduation?

'There's also that little Wave mission to think about.'

She threw up again.

Thank you for reading and I'll hopefully see you again soon!