Chapter 20
Mebuki was doing dishes, scrubbing off plates and cups. They had just finished eating.
Now seemed like a good time, Sakura thought.
"Okāsan, I'll join the Academy."
This was the first step to her goal. It seemed like nothing–miniscule progress compared to the road that lay ahead. But it was crucial to her plan. Becoming stronger, saving everyone–it all started with this.
Once the school year started, she would begin building up friendships and bonds with the others–
"You can't."
Her mother was looking at her with a strange look. Guilt, sadness, disappointment, pity. She lowered her head and reached for another plate.
"Huh?"
Why?
Sakura sat up, leaving the tangerine she had been peeling on the table. She hurried to stand next to her mother.
"But– Why?"
"We have already talked about this."
"You don't understand, I have to."
"No, you don't. Sakura, get me another pack of soap." She was nudged away, a gentle push that was not at all like the firm tone of her voice. It was no use defying her and would only serve to irritate her mother, so Sakura left the dining room.
Coming back with an unopened pack of dish soap five minutes later–it took some time to find one in their cramped storage room–Sakura handed it over to Mebuki and quietly waited for the explanation she had been denied earlier. But, as nothing followed and her mother simply continued scrubbing and cleaning, she grew impatient.
"Why can't I?" She tried sounding desperate and sad in hopes of getting through to her. That wasn't quite difficult, considering that the unexpected rejection on this topic was stirring up just those emotions within Sakura.
"It's dangerous. I'm not allowing it."
"But Okāsan! It's my dream!" She whined screechingly. (Ugh, what a pain it was to be four.)
"No." Not a single glance.
"Why?"
"Sacchan, we aren't a ninja family." Finally, her mother was looking at her. "There's no need for you to do something so dangerous. You have enough time to grow up and decide carefully what you want to become one day."
Her eyes held warmth, like always, but that wasn't enough to hide the stern look directed at her. Then she turned away once more.
"Okāsan, I already decided! I want to do this!" She was panicking, Sakura vaguely noticed.
"You don't understand the gravity of that decision yet and what it means to be a shinobi."
"But– But Nīchan is one! Why can't I?"
Her mother's hands stilled for a fraction of a second. "Yūta is different."
"How?" She needed her mother to compromise on this. She could lie and claim to not actually become a shinobi. She could promise to remain a Genin after graduation. She needed to do something–
Mebuki wiped down the last of the plates and crouched down to her height, a pleading look in her eyes. "Sakura... I don't think this is something we should be arguing about. Trust me once, alright? I just... want the best for you. Especially after–" She cut herself off.
After what? But she couldn't ask that.
"You know... the world is dangerous. More so than you think. I don't think it's the right place for a gentle, innocent girl like you, Sakura. Won't you listen to Okāsan?"
And Sakura couldn't reply anything to those words.
"Why aren't we starting already?" She impatiently asked.
Shisui stopped sharpening his kunai to glance at her. "We're waiting for some people."
"Some people? Who?" She kicked a pile of leaves, causing them to swirl around and scatter across the forest floor. All of those leaves were getting annoying. Shisui said it was good practice, and yes, she understood. But she couldn't help getting irritated when she would come here each week to see more of them, knowing she would definitely slip on them at least once.
Damn leaves.
"I don't have all day, you know."
"Be patient, Sakura-chan."
"I told you to stop calling me that!" She snapped angrily.
Shisui paused. She wondered what words he would hurl back at her. Eventually, he started slowly—gently. "Did something happen today?"
Sakura blinked. Huh? How does he...?
"You usually aren't this... sensitive about the nickname."
It sounded rude, but it wasn't a lie. She never yelled at him for that, not for no reason. Because she didn't actually care that much about the suffix. She was being sensitive.
"... Sorry." Sakura sighed. "I– uhm... was told some disappointing stuff. I had something planned, and things just didn't go my way, and... and you know."
She didn't want to tell Shisui about the Academy. What if he told her the same things as her mother? That she was too young, too innocent. That it was too dangerous. What if it snapped him back to reality and he realized that she was, in fact, a child?
But he was persistent about this kind of stuff. Surely he wouldn't let this go, just like that other time—
"No, I get it. Everyone has their bad days. I know people whose every day is a bad day." Shisui grinned. "Like my uncle."
And Sakura almost gaped. He... dropped it? Just like that? Maybe she should re-evaluate her opinion on him. Sakura chuckled, the tenseness of her body leaving her along with a white puff of breath condensing in the cool air. It was November. "But really, who are we waiting for?" She could always figure the stuff with the Academy out later. The year wouldn't start until April.
Yeah. She still had time.
"Who is that girl?" The boy grumbled, his tone holding a sort of disapproval that Sakura thought it shouldn't be allowed to have at his age.
'So what if I'm a girl?' She almost replied in an equally objecting tone, because she wasn't supposed to meet him this soon.
"Now, now, Sasuke-kun. That's not how you talk to someone you meet for the first time, is it? Be respectful." Shisui berated him, and thank God he didn't speak to her that way anymore.
"... Sorry, Shisui-san." Sasuke said, suddenly meek at the criticism of his senior. He dropped his head swiftly. Though it wasn't fast enough to hide the obvious dissatisfaction he still held. All things considered, it was still surprising to see Sasuke attempt to show some remorse.
Maybe Shisui didn't see it due to not being on eye level with Sasuke (like her). He patted Sasuke's head. "Don't you think you should apologize to her rather than me? Hm?"
"... No."
And there it is. That was the Sasuke she knew. It seemed he wasn't close to Shisui at this point, if at all. Anyone who knew Shisui well enough would know better than to not take his words with a hint of sarcasm. Sasuke should've remained standfast from the beginning if he was going to refuse to apologize and then not elaborate any further.
Itachi gave Sasuke a long look, who eventually mumbled something resembling an apology. Though he did end up glaring at Sakura for the entirety of Shisui's conversation with Itachi. The two went to stand at a small distance for that, leaving Sakura and Sasuke semi-alone together.
Sakura pretended to be distracted by some deer in the distance while listening in. She really wanted to know why Sasuke of all people was here. Sure, he was an Uchiha and Shisui's cousin. But she hadn't planned to meet him yet. It should have been at the Academy. When she would have figured out how to treat him. And Ino. And Naruto.
This was all wrong.
From what she understood, Shisui deemed her ready for some physical training beyond just stamina improvement. They had been doing this for three weeks by now, after all. And since Sasuke was going to be learning how to aim projectiles from Itachi, it had seemed like a good idea to have the two of them co-train.
"Maybe she'll make friends with Sasuke. I don't think she has any." Shisui said in a low voice, glancing at Sakura. She made sure to inconspicuously make eye contact with him at that, just to let him know that she had heard that. He probably knew anyway.
Itachi nodded. "Sasuke needs social connections. Forming a bond with a future year-mate is good." It seemed Sasuke wasn't entirely consumed with glaring at everything, as he grumbled something under his breath that sounded awfully like "I don't need girl friends."
"I don't want to be your girlfriend either." Sakura said, finally giving in to the childish desire to counter his (also childish) behavior.
Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise, and, come on, had he never seen a girl talk before or what? "You–!"
She raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"I didn't say girlfriend!"
"What did you say then?"
"I said girl friend." He replied with a serious expression, emphasizing each word.
Sakura shrugged. "Sounds the same to me as girlfriend."
"No! You're wrong!"
It was fun to see how the boy before her was getting all riled up by her words, even when she wasn't actually pronouncing them any different. It was hard to believe that the cold, aloof man she had always known him as had been a naive, immature boy at one point.
She must've been too distracted by her amusement, too concentrated on the bigger picture–the end goal–, too preoccupied with becoming stronger, too forgetting, that a question briefly crossed her mind.
What made him change?
It took no more than a second to process that thought. Oh, right. Foolish her.
The Massacre.
The one that would take place in less than two years. The one that would force a thirteen-year old Itachi's hand to murder his own kin. The one that would scar Sasuke forever.
The first thing she needed to prevent.
"Have you used kunai before?"
"Sometimes."
"Do you know how to properly hold one?"
"Yeah." Sakura grabbed the kunai Shisui held out for her, consciously stopping her muscle memory from automatically kicking in. She fiddled around with it, slowly curling her fingers around the hilt while supporting her wrist with her other hand.
One. Two. Three.
Halting her movement, she released her wrist and raised her other hand to show the teenager the Kunai, neatly placed inside her palm. Shisui didn't look surprised, and neither did Itachi. Sasuke, however, seemed to make an effort to look in the opposite direction. Sakura's eyes wandered back to Shisui, who nodded towards her.
Itachi turned to his brother. "Sasuke."
Said Uchiha visibly perked up at the call of his older brother. "Yeah, Nīsan?"
"Do what she did."
Sasuke wasted no time at all, practically ripping out a Kunai from his own leg pouch. It didn't take him two seconds to twirl the weapon into position, expertly held and ready to be thrown without risk of injuring himself. The first person Sasuke proceeded to look at was not Itachi, but Sakura as his mouth pulled into a smug smile.
Seeing Sakura unimpressed, the young Uchiha scowled. She almost expected him to stick out his tongue at her, but it seemed he wasn't on that level of childish. Shisui clapped, looking every bit impressed. "Wow, Sasuke-kun! You're gonna surpass me soon at this rate! Itachi, you should be prouder of him!"
Sasuke's eyes sparkled with anticipation as he looked at Itachi expectantly.
"Well done, Sasuke."
"By the way, where did you learn that?"
"What?" She glanced up, setting the kunai in her hand aside for a moment. Sasuke and her were practicing throwing at targets. Mostly in silence, apart from the occasional correction from either Itachi or Shisui.
Shisui cocked his head. "You know, the kunai. How you're supposed to hold it."
Yeah, this wasn't 'by the way' at all.
Sakura shrugged. "From a friend." Time to pull out the Keito-card.
"A shinobi?"
"He failed the graduation exam."
"What's his name? How old is he?" He asked before adding, "Maybe I know him."
"Keito. And his age... maybe around fifteen? He never told me. Anything else, officer?" Sakura furrowed her brows.
Shisui didn't seem disappointed at the interruption to his impromptu interrogation. Rather, he sighed in a resigned manner. "Yes, that's it. And won't you stop treating me like an interrogator? I'm just curious, you know."
"That's exactly what an undercover cop would say." That term was typical for this time, right? It had died out along with the establishment of the Police Force in her time.
"I'm not an–Oh... Fuck." Shisui cut off his words, a devastated expression crossing his face. "I am an undercover cop."
Itachi next to him sighed. "Being a member of the Police Force doesn't make you an 'undercover cop'."
"But I am mainly there for information gathering! That I do undercover." Shisui insisted.
"You aren't supposed to– no, never mind."
The curly-haired boy shrugged. "It's just us here. You already know, Sasuke was going to learn at one point anyway... and Sakura..." He shot her a quick look.
Sakura smirked. "I wasn't going to mention it, but if it's that important information... You know, there's a lot of people who'd benefit from knowing who to look out for..." She trailed off.
"Wh– What?!" Sasuke sputtered, finally losing his composure. "You're gonna sell Shisui-san out?!"
"I'm home!" Sakura yelled as she entered the house. After some convincing and whining about wanting to go to the library whenever she wanted, she had managed to convince her mother to give her one of the spare keys. She was finally able to act more freely since, up until that point, leaving the house had only been possible when someone was home. That someone was mostly her brother because their mother was always working... somewhere.
Right. Where did she work? She was a librarian, yet Sakura had never seen her at a library. And she had scoured enough of them by this point in search of useful books to be able to quite confidently claim that her mother wasn't working at any of Konoha's well-known libraries. Another thing: most libraries wouldn't open before 7 a.m. and would usually close after 6 p.m. But Mebuki always left earlier and came back later than that. On Fridays, she'd be home up until noon and leave after that.
Lately, her mother would become restless during that time and pace around the house. Maybe that was why her question had been met with such a strong refusal. But Friday was the only time she could reasonably make such a request, apart from late into the evenings when her mother was exhausted from work.
Why Fridays? No library closed on such a random day. But that was no question she could ask herself. She'd already made the mistake of believing 'simple questions' to be acceptable once. And that time, it had been Yūta's age. Who knew what asking after her mother's profession would result in?
Sakura climbed the stairs after throwing a quick glance at the living room. No one seemed to be home. Her mother was at work, and Yūta was away on a mission. She opened the door to her room and reached behind her bed, where she had created a small space between the back of the couch and the wall.
Finally she was alone. Once more, she listened for any noises from downstairs. Then she pulled out the cardboard box.
It was time to read the damn book.