Mother [Naruto]

2 - Price of a First Lead

Sasuke and Naruto were famished when they finally reached the closest village and settled into the first and only restaurant they saw. But when the long awaited food came, they only sat there quietly.

"Remember?" Naruto cracked a tiny smile.

Sasuke returned it with a slight upward curvature of his lips. "How can I forget?"

—

Mother would always cook but she would let us go to Ichiraku whenever her food didn't turn out right. And we ate ramen every night until that one time...

"Mother! Wait, don't go into the kitchen!" Sasuke tried to stop her, but it was too late.

As the kitchen door flung wide open, little Naruto standing atop a wooden stool was adding a few extra foreign spices into the curry. Frightened by the unexpected discovery, Naruto dropped the metal ladle and slipped off the tiny spool.

Mother quickly ran to embrace her child, holding him so tight that he began to feel nervous. After confirming he was unharmed, she got up and took off her apron.

"Why don't you and Sasuke head to Ichiraku. Head there early, you guys know there's always a line," was all she said and offered a smile.

It made us happy at first. We raced down and got the best seats. But we returned earlier than expected.

Mother was sitting alone at the dinner table. We carefully tiptoed to surprise her, but when we appeared before her, it startled her. And it startled us.

It was the first time we ever saw mother with such a sad smile.

—-

"I promised that it was the last time she would eat alone," Naruto said, shoving another spoonful of curry into his mouth. He didn't care that it was soaked with tears. It wasn't like the flavor was anything new.

"I used to think she talked too much." Sasuke snorted. "She'd bring up these stupid things to talk about. They were so stupid."

Naruto let out a brief laugh. "They were pretty stupid."

"But I rather have that than this silence." Sasuke meant it.

"Yeah..." was all Naruto managed to choke out.

—

"Sakura-chan is pretty cute." Baby Naruto picked up a pink crayon to color his picture.

"I think she'd look better with long hair." Mini Sasuke picked a blue one.

"Really? I think I would like to see that too."

"But I like her pink hair," Sasuke added.

"You've been talking about this Sakura-chan for a few days already." Mother placed a plate of watermelon on the table and invited herself.

With lightning speed, both Naruto and Sasuke rolled up the scroll paper and slid it under the table.

"Ehh? Are you drawing Sakura-chan? Let me see it!"

Mother could be very childish.

"Maybe." They both grinned their toothy grin. They knew that always made Mother laugh.

"Hmm... Do my boys like me more or Sakura-chan?"

"Sakura-Chan!" both yelled.

"Maybe I should dye my hair pink?"

"Ew!"

And she chased us around the house until the neighbors complained.

—