Preventing The Inevitable

Chapter 10

Acting like it cost her every last bit of willpower to speak, Sakura quieted down the sobs slightly and looked at her brother with tearful eyes. "We were– We were really just playing! Keito brought the–... But he said it's okay! He– He had stickers th– that glowed and we–"

"Hold up. What did he bring?" Yūta immediately perked up at the mention of the 'stickers', taking the bait she had placed. He looked suspicious.

Sakura sniffled once, twice, and looked a bit confused at the seemingly random question. Then she continued.

"Stickers! They– They glowed! Not always though... B– But they could make an ocean!" Sakura, concluding that she had cried enough for now, stopped sniffling and let a more joyful expression cross her face. "We– We gave the flowers water! Keito said, 'ts not raining enough nata– naturral– naturalley, so we need to help." Then, to add finish it off, she said "When we make rain with... with the stickers, I feel really sleepy, so I say bye to Keito an' go home."

By now, anyone with even a bit of real experience as a Shinobi would know that those weren't just 'stickers', as was obvious by the look of worry marring Yūta's face.

He seemed to gather his thoughts somewhat and asked carefully, "How did the stickers look? How big were they?"

"Uhm... They're about this... big." Sakura estimated the size of a common Shinobi tag and showed it with her hands. "In the middle, they have this symbol on them." She paused, looking as though in thought. "And there's squiggly lines, lots of them. Keito showed me how to make them glow. 'Cuz it's really cool, you know, Nīchan? It's like a big wave like in the picture books. Like a– Like an ocean!"

"How do you make them glow, Sacchan? Can you show me?" Hm, so that was how he was going to approach the situation? Maybe trying to see what this made-up friend had taught her?

Not dropping the act, she nervously asked: "But you won't be mad, right, Nīchan? Keito said–... He said I can't show anyone. 'ts a secret between us."

Yūta nodded reassuringly. He continued to look painfully worried, though a hint of anger was beginning to show.

She almost felt bad.

Sakura closed her eyes, pretending to be supremely concentrating. She gathered up some chakra, making sure to have around two-thirds of her current chakra reserves leak as useless byproducts that had 'escaped her grasp' before focusing the rest on her open palm. The only sign of it was the light blue glow, but she was sure Yūta had followed her chakra flow throughout the whole process.

Doing this, she'd used up quite a lot of her chakra, due to the reckless use and excess chakra that had gone to waste, making it seem like someone had failed to teach her correctly, not explained the theory behind it, or not bothered to correct her on her 'habit'.

Sakura didn't let any of her excitement at successfully completing most of the plan show, instead looking at her brother with expectant eyes. "Keito said, I need to show all my friends how to make the stickers glow! For the flowers." she exclaimed, smiling at Yūta.

Said brother was looking critically at the wall behind her, all of the amusement from earlier now gone. His lips were in a grim line, but he finally spoke.

"Take me to this Keito guy." He said. 

Too bad that Keito didn't exist.

"I don't think I can, Nīchan." She said quietly, seemingly sensing his seriousness and clenching the hem of her shirt.

Yūta looked angry, fury contorting his face. "Why? Did he tell you not to do that, too?"

"N– No."