Sakura looked about herself. The restaurant was a nice place, with cosy lighting and plenty of space. Booths were lined up along the walls and tables were filled with chairs across the floor. There was a door that led to the kitchen, every now and again it was pushed open, a jolly man with salt and pepper hair moving about the establishment, interacting with customers and staff alike.

"Oh yes.. this does look familiar." Hideka nodded.

The man came over, friendly cheer written all over his expression. It was easy to pick up on the fact that he was sincere, his silver eyes soft with his smile.

"Good afternoon," his voice was deep, his tone welcoming. "I hope you're having a lovely day, can I get you a table?"

As the words exited his mouth, a woman appeared beside him, menus in her arms. The man looked at her and his whole form seemed to melt. It was as though just the sight of the female had turned him to butter.

'For the love of everything edible, just give us the menus! I want to eat!'

Sakura winced slightly. Her doppelganger seemed to pay no mind to the headache her shouting caused. Then again, it was more likely that she was aware of it and just didn't care enough to talk at a level considered anything below head-splitting.

"Ah, my love thank you." The man took the menus from the woman before turning to them again. "So, table for four?"

Hideka nodded and they were escorted to a table. The pinkette looked about, the place had a warm atmosphere, the other customers all seated and chatting happily between mouthfuls. The food looked good as well and her other half was drooling over the delightful aroma.

'I smell chicken, pork cutlets... Oh! They do Sukiyaki too!'It would take much too long to list every food Inner gushed about the restaurant having.

A singular eyebrow rose as emerald eyes watched Kin and Kenta ignore the man's guidance to a table with four chairs and instead settle down in a booth. The mischievous duo had identical grins on their faces as they exchanged a look. The twins then looked at their mother and the greenette sighed, knowing exactly what was about to come out of her sons' mouths.

"Hey, let's sit here!" Their voices melded together.

Hideka looked at Sakura to see if the young girl minded sitting where the boys wanted. The rosette didn't have any reason to and so shrugged.

"Can we sit there?" Hideka asked the man who quickly picked up the menus he had laid down on the original table.

"Yes, of course!"

Sakura climbed onto the booth seat opposite the twins and scooted to the right to allow Hideka to sit as well. It was surprisingly comfortable and the rosette smoothed down her dress. She would have to be careful not to spill anything down it, Yui would be ever so disappointed if she did.

"Boys! What do you think you are doing?" The sound of Hideka's voice, her tone incredulous caused Sakura to raise her head. Kin and Kenta each had a cushion and seemed to be about to start what Sakura guessed was a pillow fight. "You two know that's no way to behave when we're at a restaurant, now put those down and sit still!"

Hideka's bellowing voice attracted the attention of the other customers but the family of three seemed to not notice. Sakura simply picked up her menu and used it as a wall to separate her from both the chaos at her table and the curious gazes.

She wasn't sure she fancied eating much but as she was at a restaurant it would be rude of her not to. She absentmindedly nibbled on the inside of her cheek, eyes piercing the menu in her hands. She had decided to let Inner enjoy eating some food as they did share their birthday and it appeared to be her other half's only wish but the added company of the family made things more complicated. Although the last time she had seen the twins was before she had gotten acquainted with Inner and so her second self was less present- though at the time it was hard to believe someone could be more present- it turned out that Inner became more... eccentric when in the presence of the twins.

The moment she had spotted the twins she knew her day would be a lot more chaotic than she had planned. She had determined quite quickly that she would need to keep a tight hold on her control over their physical form as she didn't want to risk the destruction of any property. It may sound quite dramatic but Sakura was well aware of the twins' scheming ways and knew her doppelganger would not hesitate to join in. Before running into Hideka she hadn't had an issue with letting Inner take control in order to enjoy a meal, the biggest problem she had with it was the price but the thought of a birthday discount had made her less concerned. Now she wasn't sure she felt safe allowing Inner that much power.

'Food! Food! Food! Food!'

The beat to her musings was provided by the entity that haunted her head. Sakura was used to Inner's demands but she really was being quite impatient. Then again the pinkette supposed she couldn't really blame her. Her diet over the last few days or so had been pretty terrible and she knew Inner's source of happiness was food.

'Alright Inner, let's make a deal.'

Sakura's other half perked up in their mindscape and the rosette could practically see her curious expression. What she was about to propose was nothing short of ridiculous but Sakura was still left feeling guilty for her moping.

'I'll order whatever you want off the menu and when the food arrives I'll let you take over but once you're done you hand over control to me again, understood?'

'Keeping me on a leash, huh?'

Sakura raised an eyebrow. 'Can you blame me?'

'No, but it does prove my point of you being lame. Anyway, I suppose I'll agree to your terms.'

Sakura nodded, content for the time being with the knowledge that Inner would be held under some form of control. Despite her doppelganger's wild nature, they had established a certain level of trust and although not always keeping to her word, Inner knew when to not mess around- although sometimes this statement was questioned.

Sakura spent the next several minutes memorising the catalogue of dishes Inner wished to order from the menu. Her face slowly drained of colour the longer the list grew and she felt a great sense of relief when the man from earlier came over to ask if they were ready to order. She was happy to make Inner happy but she would have liked to think her other half would be more mindful of their budget.

"Are you ready to order, Sakura?" Hideka asked her and Sakura nodded.

'Oi! I'm not done yet!'

"Why don't you order first then?" The green-haired woman turned back to Kin who sat opposite her, pointing to an option on the menu that sat in front of him.

Sakura glanced up at the tall man who looked back at her with a smile, waiting patiently for her to state what she wanted, notepad and pencil in hand. The birthday girl glanced down at the menu she held, pink dusting her cheeks as she prepared herself to order the feast Inner had requested. She was already not the most socially confident and so having to ask for such a large amount of food was beyond embarrassing- not to mention she was having to do it in the company of family friends.

With a deep breath Sakura began, emerald eyes not lifting from the menu she gripped with white knuckles. She did not dare raise her head, lips moving to form words that despite being at the level of a whisper, were all that could fill her head. With every item of food that she uttered her face grew a shade warmer and the embarrassment in her bloomed with the gleeful grin that sat on Inner's face, her anticipation radiating off her form.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Sakura ended the long order, barely managing a quiet 'thank you' before letting Hideka and the boys tell the male what they wanted. At this point, she was so self-conscious, that she had shrunk in her seat. It wasn't as though she had literally shrunk but her good posture had disappeared, her straight back turning to a hunch, her head bowed slightly as she did her best to ignore everything going on in her surroundings.

'Kami, calm down Outer, you're just being dramatic, that isn't even everything I wanted to order.'Inner rolled her eyes.

Sakura was forced out of her place behind her menu when the man serving them asked for the menus back. She handed hers in but still couldn't bring herself to lift her gaze from the table, her cheeks hot.

"I wish I had a big enough stomach to order all that."

Sakura blinked, lifting her head to meet Kenta's gaze. The boy looked at her with an expression that Sakura could only describe as being full of admiration. That couldn't be right though, could it? She had ordered half the menu, surely that would make her come across as being greedy?

'I told you it wasn't as big of a deal as you're making it out to be.'

As they waited for their food to arrive, the twins chatted away, deeming it important to tell her about what they had been up to during the three years since they had last seen her. Sakura had originally tried to keep up with what they were saying but they were talking at an impressive rate and changed topics fast enough to give her whiplash. It was impressive they could recall as much as they had, although it was clear that Kin was doing the majority of the remembering, Kenta stumbling over his words and his brother calling him out when he said something untrue.

"Don't lie to Sakura, Kenta."

"I didn't mean to! It's not like I would on purpose, just this stuff happened ages ago, it's hard to remember."

"You were talking about how the old lady next door to us accidentally activated one of our old tricks. That happened last week."

Sakura sighed as the two began squabbling. She didn't understand why they were arguing over something so simple and looked to Hideka, expecting the woman to stop their bickering. Instead, she found that the green-haired female had busied herself with peering at a colourful drink a woman from another table had ordered, it seemed the woman would not extinguish the situation.

Eventually, a server came to their table with their drinks, magically diffusing the quarrel. Inner had left the choice of drink up to her, truly generous, and she had ordered a fruit drink of some kind. She wasn't actually certain as to what it would taste like but she imagined the fruit the menu said it had in it would create a pleasant blend. Either way, Inner would be the one to drink the majority of it as the second their food arrived, Sakura would hand control over to her.

'Although I appreciate the healthy choice in drink, did you not take into account that it would not go with anything I ordered?'

'So you're worried about the drink I ordered when you have ordered multiple dishes that I can almost guarantee will not go together well?'

'Well, I'm not going to eat all the food together! The drink is meant to be the palette cleanser, it should go well with everything I'm eating.'

'So you wanted me to order water?' Sakura held back a frustrated sigh, only Inner was capable of making her argue about a drink. To think, only moments before, she had been puzzled by the bizarre reason for Kin and Kenta arguing.

'Don't be silly Outer.'Inner rolled her eyes.'We are at a restaurant, why would we order water when we can get that at home?'

Sakura wasn't sure how someone could be so picky and yet willing to eat anything edible.

'I'm just unique, Outer.'

'You certainly are.'

Ignoring the sounds of offence Inner was making, Sakura took a sip of her drink, picking up on the apple and banana in it, alongside some other flavours that were too ambiguous for her to identify. It was nice, as she had assumed. If Inner wanted to complain about her choice then she could but Sakura would not take any blame as it was Inner who had allowed her to choose.

'That technically makes it your fault. Even though I see no issue.' The only response she got was a roll of Inner's eyes.

"How's your drink Sakura?" Kin asked, peering curiously at the blend in her glass.

"Delicious."

The boys continued chattering, eagerly talking over each other while Hideka sipped her drink. What the topic of the twins' rambling was, she did not know but Sakura was sure Inner was filing it away in some folder in her mind. The entity seemed to remember every conversation, even ones she could not recall. It was perhaps another perk of the curious ability Inner possessed.

"So Sakura, you still like reading, right?" The older of the twins, Kin, asked.

"Yes... do you like reading?" Sakura felt a tad awkward, it had been a very long time since she had conversed with the twins.

"I do, Kenta doesn't. He seemed pretty interested in the prank book I got for our last birthday though."

"Books are rubbish, they're just a bunch of words on paper. At least the prank book had pretty illustrations and was actually useful!" Kenta leaned over the table as if to whisper to her. "We put it to use on the day we got it and it turned out great!"

"Yeah.. we also got in trouble but what's that saying? No pain no gain?" Kin shrugged.

Sakura was not sure that was the saying Kin meant but decided not to correct him. She was not at all surprised that the only book able to catch Kenta's attention was about the twins' favourite hobby, she just wondered how Hideka had allowed someone to gift it to her troublemaking sons. Receiving such a gift would only fuel the boys' pranks and the woman made her disapproval of their behaviour very clear.

"Say, Sakura?" The birthday girl looked up at the woman beside her. "Have you gotten any presents yet?"

"No, I haven't." It wasn't as though it was much of a surprise, her parents were no longer around to greet her on the morning of her birthday with armfuls of gifts and a table of treats. She hadn't seen anyone due to her moping and it wasn't as though she expected anything from anybody.

"What?" Kenta piped up, tone incredulous.

"I mean.. Yui-obasan took me out on a shopping spree and bought me a bunch of stuff, including this dress." Even though the woman hadn't explicitly said the things she had bought were birthday presents, shehadtold her to wear the dress on her birthday. Surely that counted?

"Of course she did," Hideka muttered under her breath.

"What did you get?" The taller of the twins was more on the table than he was in his seat. His curiosity brightened his brown eyes and his older brother was giving him the side eye, clearly unimpressed by the sight of him almost spilling both their drinks. Kin then looked at her and she could see a curious twinkle in his eye.

'Their eyes really are the windows to their souls.'

Sakura ignored Inner's comment. She did agree with her other half, the sincerity shown in the boys' eyes was almost comedic. Nevertheless, Sakura wasted no time replying to Inner, too busy trying to recall what Yui had purchased during their girls day out.

"Well, she insisted on buying me a new wardrobe and we also bought some shampoo because I had run out."

"Shampoo?" Kenta's face scrunched up.

It was clear what the boy thought about that as a present and Sakura was thankful when the salt and pepper-haired man returned to their table with two plates of food in his hands. He placed one in front of Kenta and the other in front of Hideka before setting his sights on Sakura.

"Your order will take longer and we'll have to bring you the plates in pairs as there is not enough room at your table for you to have them all at once."

"That's alright." Hideka waved the man away, eyes on Kenta who had picked up his eating utensils the second his plate touched the table. "What have I told you about patience?"

The moment he heard his mother's voice, Kenta dropped his chopsticks, a loud clatter causing sakura to wince as they bounced off his plate and rolled off the table. When the man reappeared, a minute or two later, with a plate of food for Kin and two of the many dishes Inner had ordered, Hideka asked him for another pair of chopsticks. The male hurriedly went off to retrieve some after placing the plates of food down.

As per their deal, Sakura allowed Inner to come to the front of their mind and enjoy the feast she had ordered. Inner licked her lips, eyes greedily taking in the sight of the food as she inhaled the delightful aroma. The first two dishes were paired nicely, one was a chicken breast resting on a bed of greens, marinated in a drizzle of dressing and the other was a vegetable soup.

They all began digging into their meal, Inner eagerly scoffing down the soup, dipping the slices of bread it had come with into the bowl. After so long of being holed up in their mind, horrified by their boring diet, it felt wonderful to taste some good cuisine.

'Slow down, you're acting like you've been starved.'

'With how you've been the last few days I have been!'

'Just try and hold up some form of table manners.' Sakura sighed.

Inner rolled her eyes in response but slowed her eating and fixed her posture. She wasn't all that bothered about manners or being polite but Outer Sakura was a stickler for it. Mebuki had been quite strict about it and Inner's other half was annoyingly obedient.

'If only you learnt to relax a bit, Outer, you would besomuch more fun.'

She received no response and went back to enjoying her food. The chicken was so tender and Inner chewed it happily. She would have to make sure they revisited this place another time.

Looking up from her food, she noticed how quiet it had gotten at their table. Usually, she wouldn't mind as they were all enjoying their meal but the family of three were an energetic bunch and it felt strange for the air not to be filled by the twins' ramblings.

"So... that girl from earlier who got caught up in your prank... how'd it happen?"

The boys perked up and she noticed Kin glance at his mother. She knew that by mentioning pranks the boys wouldn't be able to stop themselves from answering. Besides, she adored mischief herself and just because Sakura was against it didn't mean she couldn't have any fun.

"We climbed up a tree outside this shop and waited for a ninja to go inside, the place had some cool weapons on display in the window so Kin said it wouldn't be too long before one would go inside. Basically, the plan was to drop a balloon filled with glitter glue on a shinobi and then hide behind the leaves of the tree. That girl exited the shop and we thought she was the shinobi who had gone inside and so the plan kinda failed..."

"I told you it wasn't the shinobi but you dropped the balloon anyway." Kin huffed, his arms crossed.

"It was slippery!"

Inner hid her grin as the twins squabbled, stuffing some vegetables in her mouth. She had already finished her soup and only had a forkful of greens left from the chicken dish. The moment she had cleared her second plate, the man serving them appeared with two more plates of food for her, taking away the finished plates and disappearing back off to the kitchen.

So began the repeated process of Inner clearing plates and the man returning with more food. In their mindscape, Sakura watched, unsure how to feel. Inner was feasting away, an aura of pure bliss surrounding her as she savoured bite after bite. She wasn't sure she had seen her other half so happy before.

Sakura had long decided that their digestive system was an enigma. She knew the basic anatomy of the human body and had read of how it worked but with the amount of food Inner consumed, theirs could not be normal. In fact, she was willing to bet it resembled more of a black hole than anything else.

Despite having ordered five times the amount of everyone else at their table, Inner did not make them wait. Kin was naturally a slow eater and so by the time he had finished, Inner was patting her tummy with a content smile. Hideka and Kenta had already finished as well, the latter responsible for keeping away the silence in their corner of the restaurant.

"Alright, you three wait there, I'm going to go ask where the toilet is," Hideka announced.

Inner watched her venture around the corner before leaning over the table and looking at the twins with a wide grin. They looked back at her, clearly confused by her expression and clear change in mannerisms.

"You guys are going to be staying in Konoha for a while, right?"The boys nodded."Then how about we make the best of it?"

Although her words could be taken as harmless the tone in which they were spoken told otherwise and when Hideka returned it was to an idly humming pinkette, a fidgety Kin and a disturbingly silent Kenta.

The woman slid into her seat, brown eyes narrowed suspiciously. Before she could question their peculiar behaviour, however, the girl next to her piped up.

"So, have you guys sorted out where you will be staying?"

"Oh, yes, we have. It was a nightmare to book though." Inner hummed, nodding as she listened to the woman.

'Idiots. They're lucky I spoke up or else Hideka would have questioned their odd behaviour.'

'Oh no, how terrible.' Sakura's voice was heavily laced with sarcasm and Inner scowled in response.

Conversation at their booth ensued and both Outer and Inner found it pleasant. It had been far too long since they had seen the family of three and although they had enjoyed the visit from Yui and her husband and had been welcomed warmly into the home of the main family of the Uchiha clan for dinner, there was something about the chaos of the twins and the stubborn protectiveness of Hideka that felt so right and comforting.

It was funny really, Sakura had dreaded the idea of them coming simply due to the mayhem they would bring to the village. Now that she was with them, she found it lifted some invisible weight off her shoulders. Even if she found being around them exhausting, she supposed a part of her had missed them, even if that part was Inner.

'Hey, Outer, I'm going to recede to the back of the brain for a bit... that ok?'

'Yeah, that's fine... are you sure though, you haven't ordered dessert yet?' Sakura's eyebrows furrowed, it was not like Inner to miss out on a sweet treat.

'Yeah, I'm feeling a bit drained.'

'Ok then...'

Sakura blinked and looked about, Hideka was glancing around and the twins were yapping away. She sighed, perhaps she should have made Inner stay in control for a while longer, she could already feel her energy being sapped.

It was then that the twins became utterly silent, as did the rest of the restaurant. Sakura looked up, confused by the sudden hush. Following the line of sight of the boys', the pinkette found her jaw dropping in surprise. The man with the salt-and-pepper hair who she really needed to learn the name of, was approaching their booth carrying what had to be the most beautifully decorated cake she had ever seen -besides the ones her mother had occasionally baked.

It was pink, a shade or two brighter than her hair and had cherries decorating the top. Around its edges were iced cherry blossoms in a mix of pink and white along with trails of piped icing in similar colours. The cake was topped with five candles, each alight and dancing with the movements of the man.

A chorus of happy birthday started up and Sakura felt her cheeks burn. She had never been the most comfortable when she was the centre of attention and now an entire restaurant of mostly strangers was singing for her. The man placed the cake down at their table and Sakura looked at it, readying herself to blow out the dancing flames.

'Happy birthday Outer.'

With her eyes closed she blew out the candles and cheers erupted around her. When Sakura opened her eyes she found that her lips had spread into a smile and the ache that had been stuck in her chest had vanished. Her parents were no longer around and although that pained her there was nothing she could do to change that. The world had moved on and it was time she did as well. That did not mean she wouldn't miss them because she would, terribly so. She would just have to make do and if she ever needed help? Well, she wasn't alone, she had Yui and Takumi, Hideka and the twins and most of all, Sakura had Inner.

'Happy birthday too, Inner.'

A/N: I really hope you guys liked this chapter, I worked really hard on it. I can't believe it's almost 2025 and that it is Christmas tomorrow! Think of this as my present to you all, I hope that those of you who celebrate this holiday have a wonderful day and that those of you who don't have a great day as well!

Sorry for any mistakes!

Hope you enjoyed!