Alone Together...

First Fight

Sakura's POV

~September~

The whole first week was spent walking towards Konoha. I was fine with that, since it gave me plenty of time to think. Inner and I had come up with lots of idea's as to how we would prevent Hizashi's death. First of all, we would somehow spend more time with both Hinata and Neji since we weren't really that close. Secondly, we would start giving the Hokage hints about the betrayal from Kumogakure.

We also thought of other things so we could take a break from all the gloomy thoughts. Ino's and Shisui's birthday was coming up and I wasn't sure what to get either of them. Ino's wouldn't be that bad, I could always play it safely by getting her something related to flowers. Shisui however, would be much harder. I didn't really know what he liked. I would have to discreetly ask him.

At the end of the week, we had finally arrived and I was happy to see Ino waiting at the gates. We spent the whole day together and I had asked our parents to allow us to walk through the village. To Ino's happiness, they had allowed us to go. The rest of the day we had spent together and I had told her about my trip. She had also not allowed me to forget that her birthday was coming up. I had told her not to worry that I would remember and get her something great. Though, I still hadn't figured out what to get her. When we returned back to my house, I had given her the two souvenirs I had promised.

On the second week of September, I had finally went back into my routine. I also went out into the village to find my other friends. Naruto was the easiest to find since he was usually eating ramen. He was really happy when he saw me. He had immediately stopped eating and hugged me in one of his big suffocating hugs. I gave him and Teuchi, and Ayame a souvenir. We then spent the day talking, well, I did most of the talking.

That week I had also met up with Tenten and she had the same reaction as Naruto and everything was slowly starting to get back to normal. I went to the bakery on my rest day and studied. That was when Mikoto had come in and was happy to see me. She had thanked both Madoka and me for the beautiful present multiple times. She also asked me if I wanted to come over since her sons and Shisui would probably want to see me. Agreeing to her suggestion we left the bakery with Sora quickly catching up and perching on my shoulder. Throughout the whole walk there, Mikoto had chattered lively. She kept thanking me and telling me that she had yet to wear the kimono, because she wanted to wear it on a special occasion. I had asked her if the others had also liked their gifts.

Mikoto spoke about how Itachi had liked his present while Sasuke was so excited about his. Mikoto had stated how I should have seen the boys reaction when they saw the egg. She said that even Shisui and Itachi helped Sasuke care for the egg. A week after they had received it, it had hatched and a small brown baby Hawk was seen. She had laughed and said that they had been so cute when the bird hatched. She described them as having a mother hens attitude. Inner had immediately transmitted an image of them acting like worried mother hens that almost made me burst out laughing.

When we arrived, we saw Shisui run out the gates followed by Sasuke and a much slower Itachi. They must have sensed our presence. We greeted cheerfully and talked about my trip. Both Sasuke and Itachi thanked me for the gifts. Sasuke had actually genuinely thanked me, and I could tell he would probably open up to me a bit more now. After the greetings Shisui had grabbed my hand and lead me inside. I was glad that I had took Hiruzen's idea to get more gloves. Now I could wear them and have no problem fending off another unexpected overload.

Being dragged inside, I saw a small bundle on the hallway in the front of the house. As I approached I saw the baby bird move. It looked a little different from Sora but it was a baby after all and its more prominent features wouldn't appear until later. I had asked them if they had picked out a name yet, and they had said no. Most of the day we spent sitting near the bird and thinking of some good names. I also made sure to tell them what to do once it got older.