Chapter 14.

Duty of a parent

It was a joyous day when the new of Mebuki's pregnancy came. They hadn't been trying for a baby but it was something they both wanted. Her husband had been over the moon when she heard, she still remembers the dizzy spell form how much he spun her; sometimes he doesn't know his own strength. The journey of a pregnant woman was hard to be sure, after only a few mothers she found nothing fit anymore and was constantly buying larger clothing. It was will she was out shopping that she met other expecting mothers and befriend them. The bond among mothers would never be broken.

Her friends were also expecting coincidentally, though she couldn't help but joke that fate wanted all their kids to become teammates. They had all laughed then, though the mothers from the; Yamanaka, Akimichi and Nara clan had said theirs was orchestrated by their husbands. All the shinobis worth a grain of salt new the infamous Ino-Shika-Cho. It a combat formation involving one member of each clan, a fighting style that involves them all combining their clan techniques.

Kimiko, Inoichi's wife, and Ino's mother had told her the tale of how her husband and his friends had path the whole thing. The formation needed to pass down to the new generation, as clan heirs it was their children's duty to inherit it. The problem stemmed from their children needing to be on the same team thus being the same age. The plan; get them pregnant within the same year.

She couldn't say she envied her friend, as nice as the wealth would be being a noble was far too strenuous.

When the faithful day arrived, she tried and failed to regret getting pregnant. The pain she went through wasn't worth it couldn't be, but then she heard the cry. Pink hair and emerald eyes, her baby was beautiful. Holding her she forgot all about the pain she went through, she would do it all again if it meant seeing those curious eyes again.

It was a moment to behold one she would treasure she was told what would come next and steeled herself for it. Crying they had said, they cry about everything. The slightest discomfort and they would be whaling on the top of their lungs. Sleepless night, exhaustion and once again regret you had wanted a child, were the things she was steeling herself for. She would be a good mother though no matter what.

Those horrible things never came.

Sakura was an unusually calm child; she would stay in her crib and simply observe the world when she wasn't sleeping. She only cried when she was hungry or needed changing, other times was when she was sick or having extreme discomfort. Mebuki had unintentionally tied Sakura's ribbon too tight, the baby had bared through it for near the whole day until she started crying and tugging on it. It had to be painful yet she never cried until she couldn't take it anymore. Her daughter was much like her she noticed then, stubborn as all hell, and refused to ask for help.

She was curious too, once she would crawl was everywhere touching everything and pulling down palls of scrolls on herself. Mebuki had thought it cute then that she was trying to do the things she saw, sometimes she regrets not trying harder to be a mother. She saw her daughter's eyes lit up as she looked through the scrolls, she had thought it was simply for children were. She had been spoiled by Sakura, as the baby didn't cause a problem for her, she had been lax on her parenting. Oh, sure she held her and played with her whenever she was free and Sakura felt like indulging her, but she had failed to see the signs.

Her daughter didn't have an interest in toys, she preferred scrolls with information or stories. Sakura didn't ask for cuddles she excepted them without complaining, even as her father had been hyper with her, she never once cried. There weren't many times the child would come to them with her problems only those she absolutely couldn't fix, like restocking the shelves. She had seemed almost ashamed she couldn't do it herself.

Sakura didn't act like a normal child her age she knew, but when she looked at the little girl before her, she couldn't help but love her still. As she grew the fact that she wasn't normal became more apparent. She didn't look at the world with curiosity but the eyes of someone who knew exactly what was happening. The glint in her eyes was not of a child looking for adventure, but of a shinobi looking for a fight.

She found herself in the child's room on night kunai in hand, watching her sleep. She wasn't a good mother she knew but she thought she would have noticed if her daughter was swapped. Kimiko's daughter too was very smart as was the Nara clan heir, but her daughter was on another level. While shinobi children were out playing ninja, her daughter was in playing with the ancient art of Fuinjutsu.

Tears streamed down her face as she looked at the child who could only be an imposter. She seemed so vulnerable curled up in bed sleeping. She remembered when her baby had fallen asleep on her lap to a lullaby, she sobbed loudly at the memory. She was a terrible mother but she wasn't a stupid shinobi, changelings only brought chaos to a village and family. She would rib the world of her before she became a problem. She rose the kunai high, prepared to end it in one strike, even as an imposter she still had her daughter's face she didn't wasn't them to suffer.

She brought it down with all her strength but was drawn to a halt when she felt it. Flower petals dances in the pleasant breeze a field of flowers formed around a cherry blossom tree that seemed to glow in the twilight. There was a melody in the distance, it sounded strange almost like a koto but with far more strings and tones. A piano? She had only heard it played once from performers traveling from the west but she could never forget the tone.

It wasn't the feeling for her chakra that gave her pause but the senses of familiarity. They say a mother will always know her child, for a sensory ninja like her that couldn't be more true. She would sense the chakra similarity between two people and determine if they are related. Chakra runs deeper than blood after all. She looked at the sleeping child with a kunai not three inches from her neck in horror. Her chakra was a mixture of hers and her husband, making this child theirs.

She fell to her knee in despair, she had almost killed her own child. Sakura groaned in displeasure turning in her sleep. She turned her back to her grieving mother and muttered in her sleep.

"Don't cry, momma…"

Mebuki looked her in horror, had she seen her and what she was about to do? One check of her chakra said the child was truly asleep and she shamefully sighed in relief. She looked at her clean hands in disgust, she was so sure the child had to be an imposter how else would you explained their advanced knowledge. It was possible she was a prodigy but if her own mother had thought her an imposter, someone outside the family would become to the same conclusion. She worried about her child.

Her fear seemed to be put to rest when she learned her daughter had fallen in love and freaked out. Her husband had gotten a good laugh out of it and had expressed how relieved he was she was turning out okay. Much like her he had suspected foul play, no one in their family was a genius so she didn't get it from him. Her daughter's newfound love and friendship met the world to her, she thought she could finally rest easy knowing her daughter would be okay. She should have known something would go wrong.

"That child is an imposter," the Hokage has requested you hand her over."

She couldn't believe her ears, the Hokage had thought her child an imposter. What the hell did he know? He saw her brilliant feats and immediately thought her a treat? The Uchiha heir Itachi was similar to Sakura in growth rate in that they grow up too fast. Yet the Hokage never bat an eye to him, or maybe he did. The thought didn't quell her anger.

"Momma" she remembered her child coming to her excited. "Can Sasuke and Naruto come over for a sleepover?"

Her husband didn't move, nor did she move to hand over the "traitor". The Anbus grow tense once they realize they wouldn't comply.

"Your child is likely already dead," one said stepping forward. "There's no sense in raising that thing when it's not yours."

"Panda!" wolf hissed.

"The Hokage is willing to let you go free on the account you didn't know, so you should do what's best for you and handover the kid. You can always make another one."

Mebuki never forgave herself for trying to kill her only child and likely never would. She stepped around her husband, Panda huffed, "See wolf you only need a direct approach – "

A water bullet to the mask through him off balance and cut off his sentence.

"What do you know?" she asked handing sleeping Sakura off to her husband. "You weren't there when she was born." She turned to then her eyes hard. "You weren't there when she took her first steps!" the memory still brought tears to her eyes. "You didn't have a hand in raising her, so what the hell do you know!" the Anbu looked at her as though she were mad and maybe she was, but she'd die before she let them take her daughter. "You know nothing about us or our daughter" she formed a hand sign. "So, don't you dare pretend to know what's best for us."

"Water style," she took a deep breath. "raging waves!" a wave of water burst from her lips rushing towards the Anbus causing them to retreat.

"Go!" she commanded, "get to safety! I'll hold them off!" he hesitated, gritting his teeth with indecision. "We always knew this day would come; she has no idea what it means to be a child. That her to the Uchiha they will defiantly protect her. Go!"

"I love you!" he called out before turning and leaping into the air.

"And I you," she said softly looking back she caught a glimpse of pink hair dancing in the wind. Sakura had been fond of her pink hair she knew; her daughter wasn't even self-conscious about her high forehead. She couldn't be prouder of her.

The Anbu returned having overcome the wave of water that now formed puddles on the ground.

They stood before her weapons drawn, though she could not see their faces there was no doubt they were not pleased.

"To disobey the Hokage is treason, you will now be viewed as a traitor of Konoha!" they said. She smirked viscously at them.

"Is that so, well then I suppose all this will of fire, will have to be directed to my own family." She pulled out a scroll and unsealed an exploding kunai, throwing it at them. As expected, they leaped into the air to avoid it. "I will never turn my back on those I have sworn to protect!" the image of her delighted husband and embarrassed daughter flashed in her mind. "That is my shinobi way!"

She brought forth a hand full of kunai and throw it at them, in the air they would have a harder time dodging. "I am a mother and a wife! I have a duty to my family."

Thank you for everything, Kizashi, Sakura.

"Papa papa! I think I'm dying!"

The number of times his daughter had truly expressed emotions could be counted on one hand. She did show emotions but they were the ones expected of her. Pleasant smile in the morning, interest in conversations she cared nothing for, obedient to a fault. Once when young she tried to clean up a mess she made and almost fell from the shelve she climbed. Trying to return the books from once they came, it was dumb luck he happened to be passing by when he had. He caught her preventing what would surely be a nasty fall or worst and the first thing she said was.

"I'm sorry I cleaning up right now!" there were books scattered on the floor some of which had belonged to higher shelves. She had been more concerned with what he would think of the mess than her falling off a shelve. He had scolded her then telling her to get someone to help when the task is impossible for her. She was as stubborn as her mother so he had forbidden her from climbing anything.

She had listened coming to him or her mother in order to reach anything not in arms reach. She seemed timid to come to them for anything as though the weakness was a crime. That was when he first thought something was wrong, he had never acted in a way that would make her afraid of him and his wife was too loving. Her fear of disappointing them was uncalled for and he didn't like it.

Then there was her spike in intelligence, reading through all the books in the house and knowing how to read and write by two. "She's a prodigy" he told himself, but there was no real way to verify that.

She began training despite no one telling her to, she never even said anything about being a ninja. She would ask them to teach her sure, but she never gave up when they said no. Even though she was quite smart and getting stronger she had no friends and seemingly no interest in making friends; that's why he intervened. He just couldn't have imagined she would choose the village outcast.

She disappeared into the forest with him and only emerged when the sun had set. She had spent a whole day with him and at the end of it. "Anyone that tries to sever our bond, is the enemy." She declared when he saw her again. His daughter who had never had a friend before had befriended the most hated person in the village and declared war on the people who hated him, ie everyone in the village. It only got worst from there.

"Hyuga!?" he exclaimed not quite believing what his little flower just said.

"That's right," she confirmed his worst fears. "He put me to fight against his nephew, it was quite rude,"

"Fight!" he rushed to her catching her before she could leave, "Are you alright!? You're not hurt, anywhere are you?"

"Not at all, it was quite fun!" she smiled then, bright and beaming, her eyes twinkling with excitement. Before then she had not shown such an expression, he dreaded to this she was a warmonger; just to be sure.

"How could you be so reckless as to be drawn into a fight you had no business in!" he yelled. He would scold her so nothing like this happened again.

She fell in love that spring and he thought that was the end of it. She had a friend, she enjoyed a good fight and she had a love interest, no all she had to go was get into the academy and graduate.

"I had no idea your daughter was such a badass!" his former teammate said to him one day. "She took on her entire kunoichi class and won." Kizashi was still recovering from shock as his friend continued. "Rumor has it, the whole fight was over a boy, an Uchiha no less. Women are so primal it's scary, if she's like this now I can't wait to see what she's like when she's a teenager. Man, you've got your hands full there."

He didn't know the half of it, he too was not looking forward to the time she reached puberty. He wasn't sure why he was surprised the village would not like her. Whether it was from her friendship with the village outcast or her love interest with the clan outcast, she was bound to rack up enemies. He just hadn't expected that enemy to be the Hokage.

Kizashi wasn't stupid he knew his daughter wasn't normal but he also knew she was his. She would never admit it but she has the same love for cherry blossoms he does, she loved her hair after all. He was sure she would be self-conscious about her forehead but she didn't seem to notice it at all. He was happy she was happy.

So why did things have to turn out like this?

Two Anbu members one seemingly younger than the other, he recognized the one with the silver hair, wolf. He gritted his teeth and push down his panic, they were stealthy. It was possible they just got by her; she wouldn't go down that easily.

The enemy stood in his path swords at the ready. He didn't know how long his wife would last he had to get Sakura to safety and go back save her.

"It's not too late surrender and hand over the traitor." The shorter one said to him.

"Don't insult me!" he yelled stomping is foot down. "earth style, tremors!" the ground began to shake, throwing the Anbu off balance. He would fight for his family even if he had to fight the entire village.

Itachi held the body under his arm a bit too tightly as he aimed to take a step back. The demon in front of him frowned and narrowed her eyes.

"Oh~" cooed smiling her creepy smile at him. "You wouldn't be thinking of resisting me, would you?" her emerald eyes seemed to glow as she took a step forward. With each step the chains around him begun to tighten. He was glad both boys were under his arms and unaffected by the chains, though he supposed that was on purpose. If he couldn't move, she could just snatch them from him.

He activated his Sharingan and she paused glaring at him with a wary expression. He couldn't use his hand but he wasn't called a genius for nothing, it took a while and a lot of concentration but. The demon tugged on a chain and he exploded in to smoke. She didn't seem surprised but pleased, her eyes finding him a distant away atop a roof.

"So, you're going to fight me then~?" she asked. His breath came in harsh pants, doing that technique tired him a bit but he would still fight. He looked down at the two boys under his arm and grit his teeth. Shinobis made it a point to always have their hands open, to have both occupied is to rob him of his jutsus.

Chains shoot towards him and he leaped away putting distance between him and the demon. She followed him with her eyes and a smile on her face. He hated that her eyes were familiar to him, he couldn't place it, his mind couldn't get past her being a demon. His run on the rooftops confirmed his worst fears; there were bodies of his clan men everywhere.

Their body littered the streets blood painting the walls, it looked as though there was a huge fight that they had lost. He gritted his teeth fighting the tears, he was happy Sasuke was unconscious he didn't know what he would do if he saw this.

"Heartbreaking isn't it" the silky voice whispered in his ear alerting him to the woman behind him. She tried to leap away but found himself face first in the tile roof. His two passengers fell to rolling away from him.

"Looks like our game of tag is over what a shame." She said, so close to him he shivered. "This was fun." Chains coiled like snakes around them.

"Goodbye Itachi Uchiha"

Next chapter May 22.