Sakura Haruno (Child Prodigy)

Chapter21

"Not that I dislike your company or anything but, what are you doing here?" The pinkette set down the bag of mochi on the coffee table as she stared intently at the brown-haired woman sitting across from her.

"We heard about the death of Mebuki-chan and Kizashi-kun.." She said sadly, holding onto her husband's hands. "We're sorry we couldn't come sooner but we had some business to deal with." The couple had moved to the Water Country a few years back. Sakura knew that her parents had stayed in contact with them but she hadn't seen them since around a year ago when they came to visit.

"I see.." Sakura's gaze fell to the floor.

"Sakura-chan.." The pinkette looked up at the woman who reached across and squeezed her hand. "You are not alone. Takumi-kun and I are going to be staying in the village for a week or so and I believe Hideka-chan, Kin-kun and Kenta-kun are going to come by a few days after we leave. They should be staying for your birthday as well."

'That's a surprise. The last time we saw them we were only like two years old!'

"Hmm.."

~<*.*>~

Not being alone in the house was.. different. It made the young pinkette think about how her parents were gone and that made her feel empty and miserable. It also made her notice just how lonely she had been. Yes, she had Inner and she had recently met quite a few different people but Inner was a part of her and the other people didn't know about her parents, they knew barely anything about her and- well Sakura supposed she had started blocking out her emotions. She had started feeling numb and this caused her not to realise that she had been blocking out how she was feeling subconsciously. 

She had never been one to openly display how she felt but the young girl had only just realised how dark the world was to her. It was like there was some sort of dark mist clouding her vision. 

Since Yui and Takumi had started spending time in her house with her the mist had become visible to her. Sakura wondered if she might be depressed? There was certainly a possibility that she was.. she would just have to pay a visit to the library and read more on the subject.

"Sakura-chan we'll have to go out and buy you some new clothes later." The brown-haired lady sat down next to the rosette, passing the child a glass of apple juice. Sakura inclined her head in thanks before taking a sip of the sweet drink.

"Hm.. what makes you say that so suddenly?"

"Well, I'm sure you haven't been out shopping in a while besides a girl's day sounds fun, ne?" The emerald-eyed four-year-old looked up at the woman.

"..I suppose so.."

"Great! I'll finish lunch and once we have all sat down and finished eating we'll leave for the market!" Yui seemed excited at the idea of a shopping spree and seeing the older female practically glow as she talked about all the things they would buy made a small smile greet Sakura's face.

Sakura took another sip of her apple juice as she watched Yui scuttle back to the kitchen. Sakura knew that both Yui and Hideka had been friends with her mother for a long time and seeing Yui act so.. cheerful made her wonder, was she not the only one who was subconsciously blocking out how she truly felt?

'I wouldn't say that Outer. You definitely aren't alone in what you're doing but Yui is coping with the death of our parents in a different way.'

'Oh?'

'Instead of her subconscious numbing her emotions Yui is putting on a mask. Where you're numb to your feelings she is sensitive to it all but she doesn't want anyone to worry so she puts on a mask to hide how she feels.'