Twiceborn: Second Bloom | Alternate

Chapter Fifteen: Clones and Preparations

"Nee-chan..." Black eyes stared at her imploringly from underneath the numerous sheets of paper she'd acquired through various sources. Questions after questions had been answered by her two sisters. Mio had diligently sat through it, like the darling sibling she was, but Akira, as Sakura was discovering, was alarmingly more like Naruto than she'd first thought. She couldn't sit still for one, and she struggled with the theoretical side of things. Mio was similar to her previous self, so teaching her had been easy. Akira was far more troubling. She also demanded far too many breaks. "Can we go to the park?" she asked, fluttering her eyes determinedly, holding up her answer sheet. "Pretty please! Lookie lookie... I got the last two questions all right."

Sakura sighed. She supposed that was worth a reward or two, if only to keep Akira interested in her studies. "Fine," she grumbled. "But when we get back, you'll be doing another hour of study. The exams are only two days away and I won't have you failing on me."

"Sure, sure, now let's go!" Akira was out of her seat in seconds.

She sighed again, hand half outstretched as she stared at the space her wonderful triplet had just occupied. "Right." Her hands went to her hips when she turned to the rest of her siblings. "We're going to lay some ground rules right here and now, OK?"

Mio nodded.

"Hai, nee-chan!" Yuki bounced to her feet, staring at her intently.

Ran nodded quietly next to her, tugging on her triplet's sleeve to hold her in place. The youngest pair of twins copied the others, the tiny heads nodding up and down placidly making Sakura silently worry. They didn't have any adults to go with them. Tomoe had been back as often as she could, but work was work. She needed to earn money, especially with all of them now depending on her, plus she needed her sleep. Though Sakura was fairly sure they'd now been registered with the civilian sector, and along with that came a stipend – one Tomoe always tucked into the safe containing all their money. There was no point in keeping them unregistered. A fair few of the bigshots in the village were already aware of her own existence, and three of them were due to join the academy in a matter of days... providing none of them failed the test. They weren't going to be nameless akasen brats anymore.

Her gaze darted back over to Akira, watching silently as her fellow five-year-old pulled on her coat, and yanked her boots onto—

"Akira, you're boots are on the wrong feet," she grumbled, hurrying over to help her fix her clothing. "Idiot."

Akira chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of her head. "Sorry, nee-chan."

"Now." Sakura folded her arms, turning back to face the rest of her siblings, face red from the exertion. "You're all going to be staying in the same place, which means no wandering off when my back is turned. Understood?" Her eyes narrowed. "Otherwise I won't take you all out again, and we'll have to wait until Tomoe-oba comes around again, and you know how often she appears."

"Not very," Sora muttered, folding her arms with a pout.

"But we have Saku-nee!" Seiren said, and Sakura could almost envision sparkles in her eyes as she spoke. "I love Saku-nee the most."

"Nu uh." Sora scowled. "I love Sakura-nee more!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

Sakura sighed, a fond smile pulling at her lips before she went and pulled them apart by the ear. "You're to be on your best behaviour when we're out." She twisted their ears even more. "So—"

"Nee-chan, it hurts!" Sora sniffled.

"We'll be good, Sakura-nee! Promise."

"Hn." She let them go, smirking as they rubbed at their sore ears. "You'd better. Now, get over here," she ordered, turning around to the coat rack. "We're getting dressed to go out. It's rained recently, so don't forget your hats and gloves." Sakura turned, pulling her own coat and shoes free from the rack, ensuring her own clothes were properly wrapped around herself before she went over to help her siblings. "Mio." She turned to the door where her slightly spiky-haired sibling waited – the only one she could entrust with the task. "You're in charge of keeping an eye of Akane and Nozomi, m'kay?"