Her name was Sachiko and she was fourteen years old.
She could happily say that she was content with her life on Fire Country's border. The small town she lived in was full of the kindest people she'd come to know, and she was thoroughly satisfied with helping her grandmother at the inn.
But...
There was something that nagged the back of her head. Who were her parents? What were their names? How come her grandmother never spoke about them?
Sachiko unconsciously gripped at the key pendant hanging beneath her shirt. She was told that this was a memento from her late mother, and yet she still knew nothing about her. She tucked a few strands of black-bobbed hair behind her ear as she quietly made her way to her grandmother. Yuka was in the kitchen of the inn, preparing breakfast for the guests.
"Sachiko-chan," she greeted. "What are you doing in here? Didn't you say that you were going to take your herbal remedies down to the clinic?"
Oh, her remedies. For as long as she could remember, she had always been interested in medicines, herbs, and healing. Things of the like. She was far from being a shinobi even if she carefully worked from night to night on how to collect special chakra to her hands.
"Sensei wasn't there yet so I came back," Sachiko replied. "Um, baa-chan? Can I ask you something?"
Yuka looked over curiously. "What is it, dear?"
"My... kaa-san. Can you tell me about her? Please, baa-chan? I-It's been bothering me for so long and I want to know more about her. I have to."
The elderly woman saw the small fire in those bright green eyes and sighed as she turned the stove flame off. Sachiko followed as Yuka walked over to their storage closet. It was filled with things like winter blankets, towels, thick jackets...
The teen watched in wonder as a small box was pulled off the top shelf. Gray spotted the brown wood as well as the odd paper slips that were plastered on the seams. Yuka placed it in Sachiko's hands, tapping it lightly and sighing once more—wistfully.
"Your mother told me to give this to you when you were old enough. Just before she disappeared, she said that everything you wanted to know was here. And that key I gave you on your third birthday?"
Sachiko touched the chain.
"It was hers. And it's the only thing that can open this."
She ran her hands over the film of dust, quietly thanking her grandmother. Yuka patted her head and returned to the kitchen, throwing a sad look over her shoulder as she watched the teen hurry to her room.
As soon as Sachiko reached her room, she closed her door and leapt onto her bed. She pulled the key off her neck, staring at it's odd shape and worn look before placing it in the lock and twisting. There were plenty of things to expect when she opened it, like it just popping open, but an expansive spiderweb of blue shot over the box. It stayed as such for a few seconds as the slips of paper burned off, taking the glowing lights with it.
Her mother... was a shinobi?
She slowly pried open the box and peered inside.
Photos. So many photos. Photos of people around her age, of kids, of teenagers, of adults... The first one she picked up was of a married couple, the note on the frame reading:
Haruno Kizashi & Haruno Mebuki
Your grandparents on their wedding day
Wasn't Yuka her grandmother? Maybe on father's side. She sifted through more photos and saw many different people. Blonde hair blue eyed ones, pale eyed ones, even one with one eye always covered! Though in every picture, she always saw the pretty pink-haired one.
"K... Kaa-san...?" Sachiko murmured. It had to be. She had the exact same eyes as she did. She tore her eyes away and picked up two other things from inside: a heavily used, unpolished Konoha hitai-ate and a thick envelope.
To Sachiko, from your mother, Haruno Sakura
With shaky hands, she lifted open the flap and took the letter inside. Twenty pages? Thirty? All handwritten and tear-stained. Sachiko swallowed down her uncertainty and fear as she readjusted herself on the bed and looked at the very first line.
Sachiko,
I wonder how old you are right now, reading this. I've asked Yuka-san to give this to you when you were old enough to understand, but I know that at any age you'd be angry with me for not being there when you needed me the most.
The first thing I wanted to make sure you know is that I love you. This might just be a stranger's words to you but to me, they're one of the only ones I truly stand for. I love you. I love you. I love you, my beautiful daughter. I didn't want to leave you all alone, but I just couldn't stay. I'll explain myself later on in this letter, I promise.
The second thing I wanted to tell you is that I'm sorry. For everything. You don't have to forgive me for what I've done, but I hope you take the time to get ready for what I have to say.
Where do I start...
How about from the very beginning?
When I was twelve years old, I graduated the Shinobi Academy in Konohagakure. My genin teammates were Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, and my sensei was Hatake Kakashi.
::
"Kakashi-senpai."
"Stop nagging me, Tenzou."
"We're two days late! And it's Yamato."
"Then it won't hurt to delay two more. Tenzou."
Yamato rubbed his face with his hands and gave an exasperated sigh. Eleven years after the war and he still had to deal with his superior's bullshit. The two of them were making a short, diplomatic mission west from the Valley of the End. Kakashi, the recently retired Hokage, still maintained his lazy disposition and lack of motivation-- ultimately leading them to stop at a border inn for the night. Yamato followed the other exasperatedly though the doors of the quaint looking building.
An older woman was wiping down a table when she saw new customers.
"Welcome! Room for two?" she questioned. Yamato nodded as she moved to the reception desk. A roster was placed for them to sign. "I'll be leading you to where you'll be staying." The woman led them up some stairs and down a hallway, sliding open a door for them and bowing respectfully. "My name is Yuka, and you may ask for me or my granddaughter Sachiko if you need anything. Please enjoy your stay."
Yuka dismissed herself, leaving Yamato to sigh and take a seat near the window and Kakashi to look up at the ceiling thoughtfully. Sachiko. He remembered a conversation with his old student years and years ago about favorite names. In a flash, he frowned, quickly erasing the memory from his head.
"... Where did that come from...?" Kakashi mouthed to himself. He was saddened to admit that it had been a very long time since he reflected on his failure to the save the only student he abandoned. If he had a chance to do it over, he would. Kami knew he would. He desperately wanted to make up for everything he never did.
"Senpai," Yamato called. Kakashi spun around casually, "do you want to stop by there before we head back to Konoha?"
A quiet sigh. "If it isn't too much trouble."
::
It was in the calm evening when there was a quiet knock on their door. Yamato stood and opened the door to see a young teen. Her eyes were puffy from freshly made tears with a box clung tightly to her chest, folded papers in one hand. His eyes widened.
"A-Are you Yamato-san and H-Hatake Kakashi-san?" she sniffed as she clutched the box even tighter. He gaped at the girl for a few moments, not exactly knowing what to make of this. Eventually, he nodded and stepped to the side and let her shuffle in. Kakashi sat up and stashed his book away, curiously observing at the misery shrouding the teen.
She suddenly thrust the box in front of her and dropped her head. "P-Please take a look at this!"
Aloof as always, Kakashi slowly took the offered object and popped it open.
What he saw first made his heart stop. He stared, unmoving, for a whole ten seconds until Yamato's concern brought him to look into the box as well. Team Seven's infamous genin picture stared back along with an old red hitai-ate and a bunch of other pictures.
"These... things..."
The girl gulped.
"They belonged to my mother," she whispered. Kakashi's eye shot up, sharpening considerably. "I... I saw your names on the roster and th-thought you could help me learn about her...?"
Yamato stared at the other. It had been a long time since he'd seen such a strained but unreadable expression on the man's face. He too couldn't believe that this girl standing here was his old friend's child.
"Is your name Sachiko?" Kakashi asked. She nodded, unknowingly making his heart sink.
"Yes, sir."
"... How old were you when Sakura passed?"
Sachiko fumbled with the letters she held and hurriedly picked out one of the last pages. Biting her lip, she scanned the penned lines.
"T-Two," she replied. Kakashi and Yamato exchanged sorrowful glances. It was in the time period where most shinobi forces were sent to the front lines to fight the most important battles of the war. That had lasted three long years in which they hadn't seen Sakura for that entire time. It was a large enough span for the girl to come into existence.
"Who was your father?"
She sorted through the papers once more and pulled out a single sheet to hand to them. Kakashi lifted his headband as he took it, not noticing the way Sachiko flinched as he read through the page.
I've already lied to you so much that you don't deserve for me to lie about your father. I don't know what he was like when he was Kakashi-sensei's teammate, but he wasn't a good man when I first encountered him. Far from it.
Kakashi froze.
No.
That didn't... wouldn't—
He tortured me for twelve hours. Every second I can recall what he did to me, and I can tell you that I never fully recovered. He took away my will to live and my passion to end the war. Could he have been saved from what he'd done? Maybe. But that moment made me realize that I had nothing left to offer to the cause. I couldn't protect the people I loved because I couldn't come to protect myself.
Yamato covered his mouth with his hand.
I found out I was pregnant with you a month later. I was so... scared to admit to everyone what happened to me, so I hid it. Hid you. I didn't utter a single word about your existence and gave birth to you in that small town on the border where I hope you're still safe in today.
You were the most beautiful soul I'd ever have the opportunity of meeting, but again...
I'm sorry, Sachiko.
You were born not only as my daughter, but Uchiha Obito's as well.
They couldn't say a single thing. For eleven years, her intention was lost to them. They—Kakashi—never knew why Sakura threw herself between the rasengan and chidori. Perhaps it was her last stand to act as the catalyst to drive Team Seven towards its final resolution, or it could have been her overwhelming love for the both of them.
It was neither. And with that realization, Kakashi felt worse than when he watched her die.
"Was he really a bad man?" Sachiko questioned, her voice quiet. "What did Uchiha-san do? And why did he hurt my kaa-san?"
Yamato turned to look at her nervously when Kakashi wouldn't speak. "Well, he... just wasn't exactly a good person.. I don't know about what he was thinking, but, uh, do you know who Naruto is?"
Sachiko nodded. He was always mentioned in her mother's letters as the one who gave her hope, the one who'd be future Hokage, and the one who always fought for Sasuke? Yeah, that was his name. And he was an Uchiha too if she wasn't mistaken.
"Sakura and Naruto were close, so I'd think Obito did it to hit close to home," Yamato continued. "I guess he failed in that sense because she didn't tell anyone, but I never thought she'd have been able to go through all that by herself..."
Sachiko hugged her arms, making herself seem smaller than she already was. "Why did she die?"
Kakashi raised his eyes at that moment and surprised her with the amount of pain that flooded them. "I couldn't stop her."
Her bottom lip started to quiver.
"I'm sorry."
He drew his gaze back to the box. Gingerly, he sifted through the pictures—the memories—and saw a vial of blood at the very bottom. A small note was attached to the cap as well as a seal of preservation.
If I'm still in the records, use this to confirm our relation.
This could be his chance. For all the times he wronged Sakura like failing to teach her, or not taking the opportunity to pay attention to her as much as he did with the rest of Team Seven... he could finally make it up to her. Indirectly, of course. But if he could bring the girl up as a student like he never did to Sakura—
Knock. Knock.
Yamato moved away to open the door, revealing Yuka on the other side.
"I'm sorry to intrude," she apologized, "but I need to borrow Sachiko-chan for a few moments, if that's alright." She faced the teen. "Sensei called about your medicine, how you were supposed to deliver today?"
Sachiko quickly bowed to the other adults and excused herself before taking off down the hallway. How could she forget? Her mother's box had taken up all the time out of her day that she'd forgotten about her duties!
At her leaving, Yuka's smile slipped off her face as she regarded the two shinobi with firm lips and a pensive gleam in her brown eyes.
"Now that you know of her roots, do you plan on taking her to Konoha?" she questioned. The heavy silence that followed was piercing and pulling on the thin string between tolerable and unbearable, but it was enough of an answer for her. Yuka sighed, the tiniest smile returning to her lips.
"I promised Sakura that I would raise her daughter with the love she was never able to give herself," she said, "I hope you come to treat her with that same respect."
To Yamato's surprise, Kakashi assured her with unshakable determination. "We will."
Yuka bowed to them, closing the door with a quiet click and setting off down the hallway. Once down in the lobby, she sat at the chair by the window and gazed out into the night. It was cloudless and blue, faded stars streaking the remnants of night.
Sachiko was a very bright girl with brimming intelligence that took after her mother, she was sure. They even shared the same round green eyes, though the teen's was much more vibrant than she had ever seen Sakura's. There was so much potential in that girl that she knew she couldn't keep her helping out at this old inn.
She sighed again. "Sachiko-chan was never meant to be a small town girl, anyways."
::
To be continued in Omake III: The Flower That Wasn't Pink
::
Fanmade cover by TheInfinityofMaybe !
Next art up is by LightMareLibra !
Last is from an older story, but I appreciate it all the same, by PhagamiJoyce !
Thank you for taking the time to make these, I really do enjoy them! :D
::
EDITED 2/1/18