—-PRESENT TIME—-
"Naruto! Isn't this trespassing?!" Sakura asked a bit unsure when Naruto decided to head off towards the lady's house that they met earlier after they bought all the foods they could think of. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Iruka and Kakashi are now standing in front of a simple well-kept house inside the Senju compound.
"I have the key!" Naruto yelled while opening the red door in front of them.
'Meow' they were greeted by a fat ragdoll cat that was sitting in front of the door seemingly observing them one by one.
"Kyah! So cute!" Sakura squealed with glee as she tried playing with the cat. It had sent her a glare as she started moving forward wanting to pet the unmoving feline.
"Naruto-sama. Welcome back." It greeted the blonde ninja.
"It…. it…. talks!" Sakura squeaked. It didn't spare Sakura a second glance as it averted its gaze towards the moody teenager beside her.
"It's been a while since Hana-sama had an Uchiha as a visitor." It declared making Sasuke flinch.
'Of course. I'm the only one left.' Sasuke thought.
"Maru-chaaaaaaan! Hana-sobo's order!" The cat nodded towards Naruto.
"Please follow me then." The cat had led them gracefully towards what looked like the living room laden with random pictures; some from places they'd never been to. In the middle of all the random images was the largest picture in Hana's collection. It was situated inside a delicate frame - it was a picture of a younger Hana wearing a traditional wedding dress her mischievous eyes staring right at the cameraman. Beside here stood none other than the Nidaime - Tobirama Senju, in his hakama - proudly wearing his family crest. It made everyone stop on their track except for Naruto who had seen the picture thousands of times already.
"Ah, that's the 2nd face in the stones right?" Naruto suddenly said making everyone fall to the floor.
"Naruto you dumbhead! That's the 2nd Hokage!" Sakura screamed in frustration, as she tried calculating the years since the death of the said Hokage.
"I told you she was old. She was even married to the stone man!" Naruto argued back. Kakashi couldn't help but stare. Hana looked like she was younger when the picture was taken.
'She couldn't have been more than 16 years old.' He thought. Another picture was of her together with the 1st Hokage, lady Mito and the 2nd Hokage smiling as they stood side by side, the Second Hokage's arm firmly holding onto Hana's hips.
"I don't understand anymore," Sakura said as she had given up on her mental arithmetic and settled instead on the sofa beside the window.
"Ah! Everybody is here!" Hana greeted as she pranced towards her living room with Maru held firmly in her grasp. "Please make yourself at home! I'll be preparing our dinner." Kakashi smiled as he heard Hana's flamboyant tone.
'She doesn't look like a day older from the other pictures she took.' He thought while he continued scanning the pictures on the wall. Opposite to him stood a silent Sasuke who looked like he was quite mesmerized and surprised at the same time.
"Ehem." Came a shy noise from the door. "It seems like you've bought a lot." Hana giggled as she walked back towards the living room. "Can I ask for someone's assistance to prepare the food?" Before Naruto and Sakura could volunteer, the silent Sasuke had beaten them to it.
"I'll help." Came Sasuke's hurried reply as he started walking towards Hana with a look of realization in his eyes.
"Ah… never knew that jerk was that hungry." Naruto commented as started rummaging on the movie collection he and Hana decided to buy ages ago. Sakura can't help but watch as she saw Sasuke's retreating form.
'What's wrong with him?' She noticed his sudden change of mood as he followed the older woman towards the kitchen.
"Uchiha Sasuke, did I get that correctly?" Hana started and smiled as the young teenager gave her a nod. "What would you like me to cook?"
"You're the Hana that he was pertaining to." Sasuke declared looking at Hana's eyes as if searching for some reaction.
"Who?" Hana asked meekly as she started to put the ingredients out from the bags.
"I've seen Madara's scrolls. He wrote about you a lot." Hana suddenly stopped as she heard an old name she's never heard of in a while.
"He…" Hana began as she looked at Sasuke's dark orbs. His eyes, she thought – it felt like she was staring at the eyes of her comrade many decades ago. "He was a teacher… and a good friend of mine."
"In his scrolls…" Sasuke looked like he wasn't convinced. "The way he wrote about you didn't seem like he sees you as a mere student or a friend." Sasuke took note of a random emotion that crossed Hana's forest-green orbs, he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Hana stood idly as a random memory flashed before her – her younger self kneeling in front of Uchiha Madara inside his perfectly crafted Susano. 'Come back. Please.' Hana whispered as she held his hand firmly – trying to persuade the head of the Uchiha clan to stand down and surrender to Hashirama.
'In another life. I promise.' Was the last thing she heard from the stoic man in front of her before he put her to sleep.
"Kakashi-sensei? Iruka-sensei?" Sakura called both the teachers who were busy musing around the living room.
"Hm?" Kakashi answered uninterest as he was eyeing so interesting pictures from the Sound village.
"Would you know who this man is?" Sakura pointed towards the picture that Sasuke was staring at earlier.
"Oh." Was the only thing Kakashi heard from Iruka. This was when Kakashi decided to look at the picture she was pointing to.
"Uchiha Madara." Kakashi answered as he scanned the picture in front of him. Hana looked the same as she was during the photo – she was smiling brightly towards the then head of the Uchiha clan who in turn was looking at her proudly both had a falcon comfortably perched on their outstretched arms.