Sakura's POV
The room was quiet for only the span of three seconds at Fugaku's departure. Shisui had jumped out of his sitting position and ran over to me excitedly. He was much like Naruto in the sense that he couldn't seem to sit still for too long. They were just too energetic to be quiet, let alone unmoving.
"Sakura-chan, that was amazing! I couldn't keep my eyes away from the game!" He said as he grinned down at me. I smiled up at him with just as much excitement. The win a few moments ago was a great achievement, one that would mark the start of—hopefully—a good relationship between us two.
"Thank you Shisui-san!" I said with a grin. The others soon approached us from their previous respectful distance.
"Sakura-chan, that really was a great game! I haven't seen Fugaku so intense in a game of Go in a long time!" Mikoto informed me with a big smile. Now that she had mentioned it, during and after the game he was completely different. I guess Katsu was right in the deep meaning behind Go. The Revealment of one's inner character did present itself.
"He was a real challenge to beat." I said up to her. She had no idea how true that was, reasons beside the game also playing a big part against me.
"So that teacher of yours...who is he?" Sasuke asked, trying to be as uncaring as possible, but I could still see the curiosity in his eyes. I suppose I can tell them about Katsu, besides his whereabouts of course.
"My teacher is an elder man named Katsu. I met him when I travelled around last year. He lives in Suna." I said, choosing Suna because no one could possibly know whether I lied or not. Even if they asked Madoka or Kioshi, it wouldn't matter, because they knew I made a few friends during our travels. They just didn't know who those people were.
"So you were travelling when Madoka-san wasn't at the bakery?" Asked Itachi in an attempt to keep the conversation going. I nodded up to him in confirmation.
"We had left to celebrate my birthday with my grandfather on my mother's side. He lives in the Land of Water. After that, we just travelled around and Suna was one of our stops before returning." I explained. They nodded as I told them about Madoka's absence in the bakery. I suppose as a friend and baker at their seemingly favorite bakery, it was their curiosity that wanted to know where she had gone.
"Well then Sakura-chan, if you're not fighting Ita-kun, do you want to practice some more?" Shisui asked, earning himself a glare from Itachi. I nodded up to him, eager to get up and stretch my legs.
"Alright, let's go!" He exclaimed excitedly as he began to walk towards the door.
"Wait, I can't just yet." I said, earning their attention. It was pretty embarrassing to state, but there was no other way to get out of this one.
"Why not Sakura-chan?" Asked Mikoto in concern. I wanted to cry. My amazing victory didn't make me feel so victorious when I couldn't even stand back up!
"Uhm...I can't stand up...my legs are stuck." I said already expecting their reactions; and as predicted, their looks of amusement turned into laughter. Ranging from Mikoto's and Itachi's quiet chuckles to Sasuke's and Shisui's overly obnoxious laughs. I sighed and waited for them to stop patiently, and of course, Inner wasn't helping by laughing either.
As I watched Shisui and Sasuke laugh, I hadn't noticed Itachi approach me. So it was to my surprise when I did finally notice him beside me.
"Sakura-san." I looked up to see he had his hand extended for me to take. Well, that was very nice of him.
"Kyaaa! Take the cute boy's hand! Take it!" Inner shrieked as she looked on with a blush on her face. She practically demanded that I do as she said.
I smiled up to Itachi and reached for his hand. Right on contact, I received a scene from his memories. It was one of a younger Itachi, holding a baby Sasuke and promising to protect him. As I both slowly and painfully stood up, I couldn't help but to admire him a little. He vowed to risk everything to keep his brother safe. Later on in the story he actually achieved it, as twisted as it had occurred. I felt that him and I would be able to become great friends later on what with having the same views. We were both willing to risk everything for our families. As he pulled his hand away and made the memory fade, I vowed to help keep his family safe too, it was the least that I could do right now that I was here.
"Thank you, Itachi-san." I said as I stretched out my legs. He smiled down to me and nodded his response.
"Kyaaa!" Inner shrieked and proceeded to dramatically faint. I chuckled at her action, and then proceeded to focus on the others. They had finally finished laughing but still had a few left over chuckles escape here and there. Honestly, it wasn't that funny.
"Hahaha...sorry Sakura-chan! You're just so cute!" Shisui said as he patted my head. I frowned slightly and tried to move his hands away from my head. He stopped eventually, from all of his attempts that were thwarted by me.
"Let's go practice then." Sasuke said and we all nodded and followed him out. Mikoto said she would be off to visit Shisui's mother, so we were left on our own. We had practiced for an hour on close range firing. Itachi and Shisui focused a bit more on Sasuke's precision and on my consistency. To my surprise I had hit one bulls-eye for each sets of five, however, most still continued to hit around it. Sadly, for a training day we didn't get that much practice in.
Sora had also appeared above me during practice, signaling he had a message for me. Stretching out my hand for him to perch on, I whistled, signifying I was ready for him to land. He landed gently on my arm and I unattached the note from his leg. As I read the letter I placed him on Shisui's arm, since he had asked if he could hold him. Madoka had actually wanted to see me and it was for real this time. I told them of this fact and actually showed them the letter this time. Sasuke frowned slightly as he looked between Shisui and Sora.
Before leaving I asked Sasuke if he wanted to hold Sora and could instantly see the surprise in his eyes. He nodded slowly, as if thinking I was only tricking him. He was still wary around me, but he seemed to finally accept the fact that I was going to stick around him more than he'd like.
"Extended your arm out." I told him as I stood between Sasuke and Shisui. He surprisingly did as I said, which had caused me to smile. Shisui looked interested in how I was to proceed with the exchange. It wasn't that interesting, not with Sora being so smart.
"Sora, go to Sasuke-san." I instructed as Sora looked at me tilt my head over to Sasuke. He flapped his wings and took off flying the short distance between the two. He landed gently on Sasuke's small arm, careful not to injure the boy with his talons. He tucked his wings behind him so they wouldn't accidentally slap him in the face. Although it would be funny to see, but Inner would probably get mad.
"Wow! Nii-san look! He's so smart!" He exclaimed childishly.
"I see him Sasuke." Itachi said with a gentle look on his face. Sasuke looked really cute happy. Too bad he grows up to be a jerk, but hopefully he wouldn't have to be this time.
"Sasuke, let Sora go back to Sakura-san. She has to go meet her mother now." Itachi said a few minutes later as he placed a hand on top of Sasuke's head. Sasuke looked a bit sad but nodded anyway. He looked over to me.
"What do I do?" He asked. I shook my head.
"Nothing. Sora, come here." I said and Sora happily flew over to me. Sasuke looked amazed at how cool he looked when he flew. Sora perched on my shoulder and rubbed his head on mine, his usual hello.
"It was a fun day Sakura-chan! You should come by more often!" Shisui said in excitement. I nodded, agreeing to his proposal now feeling more comfortable in their presence. However, the ever present fear that they will force me into something or figure out something else they shouldn't would always be present in the back of my mind.
"I agree. Sakura-san should come by next week to practice on our next lessons on shuriken." Itachi told Shisui who nodded in quick agreement.
"Okay then! Sakura-chan come back on Saturday to learn about shuriken. Don't forget to practice on your kunai throwing." He instructed with a serious expression but a kind grin soon replaced it. Shisui was a very warm and kind individual, not that the others weren't. Itachi was just a quiet person by nature and Sasuke...well, he was just Sasuke.
I nodded my head and they lead me to the gates to see me off. We bid each other good byes and I left towards the bakery. I sprinted off in the direction of the bakery which was a bit farther away from here. Sora took to flying high above, soring the sky freely. Not even close to the bakery did I get, before running into someone. Due to my speed I was pushed back by the opposing force. I was glad my extra training increased my reflexes or I would have simply embarrassed myself again.
Instead of falling on my butt like all the other times, this time I held my ground and only skid backwards. I'm glad the person I bumped into felt like an adult, because I distinctly felt their legs crash into my face. I was glad I didn't knock over some kid which would have just made things troublesome.
I looked up, an apology ready to come out, but stopped as I stared in surprise at the man in front of me.
"Little girl, are you okay?" He asked, snapping me out of my surprise. I straightened up and nodded up at him, unable to speak.
"I'm okay." I answered his question after I regained my senses. He noticed my staring and tilted his head, very much like I do when confused or intrigued.
"You have very pretty eyes." I said, hoping that explained the reason for my staring, but who wouldn't say that to a Hyūga? It's not really so much the eyes that surprised me. It was his forehead. Although Hizashi and Hiashi were identical twins, they still had features of their own like most twins. Hizashi looked much the same only much younger of course and his eyes really were pretty, not creepy at all like Inner was sprouting inside.
All of that was not the problem in this situation. Looking at the curse seal upon his forehead confused me. I had thought he was dead. If I remember correctly he died by taking his brothers place when they had kidnapped Hinata and Hiashi killed the kidnapper. He had caused a major problem and they wanted him dead. So instead of Hiashi, Hizashi died in his place.
"Thank you and I very much like your hair as well as your eyes too. I believe they are even more so unique then my own" He said kindly as he looked down at me. I smiled up to the nice man. His chakra felt very relaxed and gentle as Inner and I sensed it radiating around us. There was movement behind him and I looked towards the source. It was a child. He was a bit taller than me and looked like a spitting image of his father.
"Oh my god! He looks so cute!" Inner gushed inside my head. She was right though, Neji was a very cute child and I was happy to note that he did not yet have the curse mark. Didn't he have to get it when the heir to the main house turned three? Hinata must be younger than me by a good few months then. I soon realized I had forgotten to apologize. I looked back up to the patient man.
"I can't believe I forgot! I'm really sorry for bumping into you sir." I apologized with a slight bow. He chuckled at the hurried apology.
"It's quite alright. I was very impressed with your reflexes." He said down to me. I looked up to him with a shy smile.
"Well, it's happened often." I answered truthfully. He had an amused expression on his face before looking around me.
"By the way, are you lost?" He asked, noticing that I was by myself. I shook my head in response to his question.
"No. I'm actually on my way to meet my mother." I responded and he smiled and nodded at my answer.
"Then as an apology for being partly responsible for the accident, how about we escort you there?" I smiled and nodded at his suggestion. This could be the only chance I get to befriend them so openly and early into the timeline. Besides, it wouldn't hurt anything in the plan.
"Then after you." He said politely and I began to walk in the direction he was coming from.
"Oh wait." I said and stopped walking. Looking around I noticed Sora was missing. I Looked up and noticed he wasn't there either.
"Pardon me for just a second." I told them and they looked slightly confused. I whistled as loud as I could. The sound itself wasn't hurtful to the ears, which I was glad for.
The sound rang for a long time as it bounced off the alleyways. Haruki was actually very surprised by how long I could last; I didn't tell him that it was because of the breathing exercises I did for training. As long as I knew how to exercise my breathing correctly from my last world, the exercises were easy to pick back up and it was great for meditating. After my whistle finally died down, due to the lack of air I had left, it took a moment to regain my breathing. A few seconds later and Sora flew overhead. He landed on my shoulder easily. Although he was developing a seriously bad habit of losing me.
"Wow..." I heard a soft voice speak up from behind Hizashi. I turned over to the direction I heard it come from. Neji noticed my staring and backed up behind his dad. I didn't think he would be shy, but then again he was young and he had yet to be branded or have his father die. Thinking about the brand-less Neji, reminded me of the whole kidnapping fiasco. I believe Neji was already branded at the time, so I should first find out when Hinata will turn three and then maybe could help with that?
"Now that I think about it, I haven't told you my name yet. My name is Sakura Haruno and this is Sora." I informed them with a slight bow.
"It's very nice to meet you. I'm Hizashi Hyūga and this is my son Neji Hyūga." He introduced. I smiled and bowed once again in greeting.
"Your bird Sora, is very beautiful Sakura-san." Hizashi said as they both looked at Sora perched on my shoulder. Looking over to Neji, I could see he wanted to pet him, just like all the other children.
"Do you want to try and hold him?" I asked him when we met eyes. He looked surprised by my suggestion and looked up excitedly to his father in assurance. Hizashi nodded and then chuckled when he saw Neji walk excitedly up to me. I noticed that besides the somewhat same facial features, they also wore the same style of clothing. A blue long-sleeved, loose-fitting yukata, with a white obi tying it closed. I smiled at the boy in front of me and extended my arm. He copied my movement and I couldn't help finding that cute. I looked over to Sora and tilted my head towards Neji.
"Go to Neji-san." I told Sora, who flew over to his arm gently. Neji smiled and patted Sora's soft head gently. Sora was becoming a great people person, and it helped with making friends with children faster.
"Shall we go?" I asked Hizashi, who in turn nodded and followed me along with Neji, who was still holding onto Sora or vise-versa. We began to make our way towards the bakery and I couldn't think of what to ask during the walk.
"Sakura-san, would your mother perhaps be Madoka-san?" He asked as we walked through the fairly empty streets.
'Do you think they're friends?' I asked Inner as I nodded up to Hizashi.
"That would certainly make things easier." She said with a nod.
"Yes. She's my mother. Do you know her Hyūga-sama?" I asked as I tilted my head up to him. He nodded down to me as we walked past some stores and stands along the road.
"You don't have to call me that, just Hizashi is fine; and yes, I do know Madoka-san. She was friends with my wife." He answered. I nodded, understanding his relationship with her and looked back to the front of the street. Now that I thought about it, they didn't ever say who his wife was. I wonder what happened? I glanced up at Hizashi and then towards the happy Neji. We arrived at the bakery and stopped by the entrance.
"Thank you for walking with me, Hizashi-sama and Neji-san." I said with a small bow. Neji extended his arm and Sora flew towards me. I smiled at Sora and then at Neji who returned it with a small one of his own. He was definitely not yet the stoic boy he grows up to be.
"You're most welcome Sakura-san. Then, we will be on our way, tell your mother hello for me." He said in parting. I nodded and waved goodbye as they returned it and left. I watched them go for a few seconds before turning and going into the bakery.
"Mom!" I said as I found her up in the second story. She turned from the oven and smiled. It was a bit crowded up here, and smelled so much of sugary, delicious aromas.
"Sakura! Good, you're here! Naomi came by and said if you wanted to go over to see Ino-chan." Madoka informed with a quick hug. I nodded up to her.
"I'd like that." I said and she smiled down to me.
"Alright, hold on for a second." She said as she finished loading the oven with pastries. I took the liberty of glancing about in wonder at all the sweets in the room. All the kids would have a blast if they were in here. Madoka soon turned to me when she was finished with her tasks.
"Alright, my shift is done!" She exclaimed happily as we walked down the stairs. Yashiro and Chouko were serving customers.
"Hey Sakura-chan!" Greeted Chouko. I smiled and waved at both of them.
"Hello Yashiro-san, Chouko-san." I greeted with a smile. they both returned the greeting.
"Well, we're off! Take care of the rest Yashiro!" Madoka called over her shoulder as we walked towards the door.
"Ne mom. I ran into Hizashi-sama and his son Neji-san today." I told her as we began our walk down the street, hand in hand.
"Oh, is that so?" She said looking down at me in slight surprise.
"Yeah, he said to tell you hello." I told her with a curious look at her facial expression.
"Well, I'm glad he's doing well, for Neji and himself." She smiled sadly.
"He said you were friends with Neji-san's mother." I said, hopefully she could tell me about her.
"Ah yes, Misaki-chan...I do miss her..." Madoka said sadly. I looked up at her with a knowing feeling surfacing inside.
"Outer...she's sad...I wonder what happened?" Inner stated with her own face mimicking Madoka's. I could feel it too. The sadness that suddenly appeared around her. I tightened my hold on hers and an image was transferred. It was a beautiful woman who I hadn't seen before. She had long dark-brown hair that was held up by accessories in a simple yet elegant hold. Her eyes were a beautiful lilac color. She looked very delicate and fragile as she sat outside with her multi-layered kimono. The older Neji looked a lot like his mother, because I'm sure this was Misaki. I felt Madoka curl her fingers around mine. I smiled sadly and squeezed her hand a little.
'...I think I know...' I said after a while. I felt Inner's confusion and spoke up before she could ask.
'Let's go to the Memorial Stone again tomorrow.' I said and she seemed to have understood the meaning behind my words at last.
"...Yeah..." She said sadly. I sighed and looked up into the cloudy sky. It was full of big puffy clouds and the sun was so bright it illuminated the village with its rays. A nice warmth to ease Madoka's mournful heart.
~A Few Minutes Later~
We arrived to a building that I remember seeing in the anime/manga. It had plants outside and a sign above that read Yamanaka Flowers. Through the window we had passed, I saw many different styles of flowers inside. We walked in and I noticed that up front was a counter with a cash register. Behind it was a shelf with boxes and vases, as well as a rack with different colors of ribbons. In the middle of the room there were four cemented blocks with dirt inside, holding all types of flowers and plants. On the other side of the room there was a door that lead to the second story of the building.
While we waited for someone to come down, I looked around for plants and flowers I recognized. I found a few herbs that I read about from the book Madoka gave me but it wasn't a great feat for such little amount. I had finished the book a few days ago; and Madoka had brought me another one. This one however, had more detail on medicinal plants. I had yet to even read half of the huge book; but with Inner's help, I could finish it in a few more days at best.
"Madoka! Sakura-chan! Welcome! I'm glad you could make it. Ino, come down for a sec!" She yelled up towards the second story. I did the usual bow in greeting of the older woman.
"Good afternoon Naomi-san. Thank you for inviting us." I said, straightening up. Madoka smiled down to me and patted my head affectionately.
"I still can't get over how good you speak." Naomi said as she smiled down at me. Ino came down and was about to ask her what she had wanted. Before she could say anything to her mother, she stopped herself when she saw us. Her face brightened with a huge smile on her face.
"Sakura-chan!" Ino exclaimed excitedly as she ran over to me. She wore a plain blue dress that reached her shins, and cute little sandals to match. She also had her bangs pinned back with a blue clip to have them out of her face.
"Hello Ino-chan. How are you today?" I asked her with a smile of my own.
"It's been pretty boring, but now that you're here, it won't be!" She said happily and reached for my hands. I smiled and held onto her small hands with as much excitement as I could. It was hard to keep up with so many energetic people, especially when you're not exactly one.
"Ne mommy can Sakura-chan and I go and play?" Ino asked her mother. Naomi nodded and looked over to Madoka.
"It's fine with me. Go have fun girls, but be safe." Madoka said with a smile down to us. Ino grinned and looked at her mother.
"Thanks mommy, Madoka-san! Let's go Sakura-chan!" Ino said, and before I could bow to excuse us, Ino let go of one of my hands and pulled me away.
'We're gonna have so much fun!' Ino thought inside her mind. I smiled at how cute she was as a child.
"Aww Ino-pig is sooo cute!" Inner squealed, calling her by the nickname she gave her once upon a time. I rolled my eyes as she continued to call her that. It probably wasn't because it was her namesake, but more of a form of teasing she most likely continued it.
Ino ran off pulling me after her all throughout the streets until we reached the general area for parks. Where we were going? Easy, to a field of flowers. How I knew? It was through seeing the images Ino was showing me unintentionally. Sora found it easier to follow us from high above then beside us in the busy streets, which was better. I had enough of staring as it is.
We ran for a few minutes through the many open fields and reached the small woods behind them. After a few turns dodging trees and skipping over fallen ones, we arrived to an open field. It was filled with tiny wild flowers. No one else was around and I could tell not a lot of people knew the whereabouts of this place, considering the path looked to be quite unexplored. Besides, even if they knew, I doubt they would all take the time to admire the place. A real pity, for it was quite lovely here.
"It's really pretty here, isn't it? No one else knows about this place and if they do...they don't come." Ino said almost stating exactly what I thought a few seconds ago.
"It's very pretty." I said while taking in a deep breath of the fresh air mixed with the smell of flowers. The air was very clean here, it reminded me that spring was almost here, and I would turn four soon.
"So what do you want to do?" I asked Ino. She looked over to me and smiled.
"Let's make flower crowns!" She said happily. I nodded encouragingly and looked up to find Sora coming down. Being the smart bird that he was, he landed on Ino's shoulder. He knew very well that Ino liked him very much.
"Kyaaa! Sora! You scared me!" She squealed in fright and after the shock disappeared, she began to giggle in delight.
For the past hour we made tons of flower crowns...well Ino did. I had to learn how to make them. It took me four attempts at making a decent flower crown.
"You need more practice!" Ino said and giggled at me. She was now placing her fourth perfectly arranged flower crown on Sora. I chuckled at how funny the scene looked. Sora's neck was completely covered by three flower crowns that were too big to be crowns. The last one she had made took her longer because she had made it smaller to actually be a crown.
I looked down at my own and sighed. It looked weird...but much better than my first ones. The first ones had the flower stems sticking in all different directions, unlike Ino's which had the stems neatly intertwined together.
"Whatever, I give up!" I said and placed the crown I had recently made on my head not caring if it looked weird. It was after all the best I could do at the moment.
"I think it's about time we go back." I said as I looked at the slow descent of the sun. She placed her fifth flower crown on her own head and stood up.
"Alright! It's too bad we couldn't spend a whole day together." She smiled sadly. I stood and Sora flew onto Ino's shoulder once again. Lazy bird probably didn't want to fly.
"Yeah, but I'm sure we'll be able to play some more next week." I told her, knowing that these play dates where going to be weekly for now and daily later on. She smiled and nodded, agreeing with me. We made our way slowly through the streets not having any rush to get back. We talked along the way of the things we did during the days we hadn't seen each other.
Ino said she pretty much never left her parents side, so she was stuck in the flower shop almost every day helping out. She had childish jealousy when I informed her of my outings in the village. To make her feel better, I told her I would see if I could get her to come with me sometimes. She had gotten all excited and began to jump around and proceeded to tackle me in a hug. I specifically didn't tell her about the Uchiha meeting, because I didn't know whether she liked Sasuke yet; and I didn't need another girl squealing in my ear every time they saw him.
We were rounding the corner and heading straight to the flower shop that was just ahead when Ino grumbled something incoherent. I looked over to her and noticed with amusement a visible frown across her face. Turning back to the front, I tried to look for what was causing Ino to change from happy to grumpy so suddenly. I chuckled when I found the cause across the street.
Her future teammates were waiting in front of the shop. They were immediately recognizable from their miniscule changing appearance from the anime/manga. Well, besides the fact that they were younger and had that child-like cuteness to them that every child possessed, they didn't look that different.
Shikamaru had the same lazy look on his face he always seemed to have and wore a simple blue tee-shirt with his clan symbol on the front. He had black pants that reached his shins and finished the look with black ninja shoes. Chōji was also very short like everyone else. He wore clothing similar to Shikamaru. His tee-shirt was red and also sported his clan symbol on the front. His pants were black and had black ninja shoes to match.
"He's not thatfat!" Inner shouted as she remembered my knowledge of him getting bullied for his size.
'Well he's a child right now, I bet he's only just now starting to eat a lot. He eats a lot to convert his calories into chakra, but I bet he hasn't even tapped into his reserves yet. However, since he's a clan child, I'm sure they'll start soon.' I said as I smiled at Ino who grunted in annoyance. We stopped a few feet away and they turned when they noticed us. Shikamaru only glanced at me for a second and most of it went to my hair. Chōji, however, looked at me and hid slightly behind Shikamaru shyly.
"And what are you guys doing here?" Ino asked them, gaining everyone's attention immediately.
"Hello to you too, Ino." Shikamaru said sarcastically. I smiled between them, seems like they're already friends.
"Don't give me that attitude Shikamaru!" Ino said annoyed by his sarcasm. I poked Ino on her side, getting her attention.
"Don't be rude Ino-chan." I said, trying to create peace between the two. She pouted but nodded in agreement.
"Yeah...sorry. They're just annoying..." Ino mumbled. I smiled at her childish actions. Looking towards the other two, I bowed slightly towards them in greeting.
"Hello! My name is Sakura Haruno, please excuse Ino's rude behavior." I added the last part just because I had a feeling Ino wouldn't apologize. I stood up straight and smiled over at them. They looked slightly surprised by my consideration but soon recovered.
"Nah, we're used to Ino's attitude problems. I'm Shikamaru Nara by the way." He introduced himself with his lazy personality that was always present. I nodded and looked over to Chōji. I tilted my head at him, encouraging him to tell me his name.
"...I'm Chōji Akimichi..." He spoke up softly. I sent him a kind smile at his gentle nature.
"It's very nice to meet two of Ino's close friends." I said already expecting Ino's outburst.
"Wha-! No, they're not!" Ino said embarrassedly. I giggled softly at her predictability.
"Yeah yeah." I said and she grabbed my arms and began to shake me.
"I'm telling the truth Sakura-chan! You have to listen to me!" She said as she shook me. I had no idea why she was trying so hard to cover it up.
"She's trying really hard to convince you." Inner said in amusement.
'I know.' I said with a chuckle.
"Alright...I get it." I said. She sighed and nodded before letting go. We then looked back to the boys.
"So...why are you here?" Ino asked again. Shikamaru mumbled something that sounded very familiar to his favorite word.
"Dad told me to invite you guys over to a meeting at our place. It's gonna be next week." He informed Ino. Ino looked as if she were just told she was grounded.
"Augh! I hate those meetings! They're so boring!" She shouted while throwing her hands in the air.
"I know. It'll be a real drag. All the clans are meeting at my house...it's a lot worse for me." He stated. I wonder what it is that needs to have all the clans present?
"What?! All the clans! Why?!" Ino asked the question, I too wanted answered. Shikamaru just shrugged.
"Don't know. All dad told me was to tell you, but I don't think it's that important. Dad didn't seem that annoyed so I think it's just a friendly gathering to help strengthen the unity of the clans." Shikamaru said and just when he finished, Inoichi appeared. He looked at us and smiled.
"Hey Sakura-chan, boys." He greeted politely. Shikamaru and Chōji waved and smiled while I stuck with the usual bow.
"Hello Inoichi-sama." I said politely. He smiled and patted my head gently before he turned towards the boys.
"Are you here about the meeting? Was the date changed?" He asked them, who in turn nodded at his question.
"It's going to be next week, on Wednesday." Shikamaru informed. Inoichi nodded and smiled down to the two.
"Alright, thanks boys." He said. Ino then grabbed his pants and tugged on them a little.
"Daddy, is it going to be boring? Can't I just stay?" She asked him with her face contouring into a cute pout.
"It won't be boring. It's not that important, just a friendly meeting. Besides, Shikamaru and Chōji will be there as well as some other clan children." Inoichi told his daughter as he patted her head.
"But daddy! All clan meetings are boring! And I don't know the other clan kids that well..." She said as she pouted at the ground. After a minute of sulking she gasped and looked up quickly surprising us all with her change in emotions.
"Daddy! What if Sakura-chan went with me?! I won't be bored and it's not like she can't! You said the meeting wasn't important!" Ino exclaimed excitedly with hope laced in her words. Unlike her happiness, I was shocked she would suggest me. What about her other friends? And going to another meeting which would be twice as uncomfortable as the last. I don't know if I was ready to be in the same location with powerful shinobi who could smell a lie a mile away. I still had a chance of not going and I was hoping I didn't have to go.
All Inoichi had to do is decline her request...He could do it right? I looked over to Ino uncertainly and saw her decked out with the most effective puppy dog look I have ever seen. I took a risk at looking over to Inoichi and sighed. He was completely defenseless against her. Then again, so was I.
"Alright, but have you even asked Sakura-chan or her mother?" He asked down to Ino, who smiled in victory and happiness.
"That'll be easy! Madoka-san likes me and Sakura-chan is already taken care of." She said happily and I blinked and tilted my head in confusion. Since when did I agree? Sensing my confusion, she quickly turned around and frowned.
"Sakura-chan youare going...right?" She asked, transforming her frown into that of her mastered puppy dog look. I was left speechless at Ino's ability to persuade someone with just one look.
"Uhm..." I didn't know what to decide. I tried looking away but she grabbed my hands in hers, and levelled up her look with unshed tears.
'Please. Please. Please.' Ino chanted in her mind. I sighed and nodded in defeat. She jumped up into the air with a cry of joy.
"Yay! Thank you Sakura-chan!" She said happily and hugged me. I sighed again and hugged her back when I figured that saying no now would just hurt her.
"So I guess all that's left is for Madoka-san to agree." Inoichi said with an amused chuckle. Ino broke the hug only to drag me inside the shop. Charging right towards where she knew her mother and mine would be.
"Let's go ask your mom!" Ino shouted happily over her shoulder. I said nothing and just allowed her to drag me along like usual. If she used that face on Madoka, there was no doubt she'd say yes. When we found them talking in a small table near the back corner of the flower shop, Ino wasted no time in asking her. Madoka had surprisingly agreed without the use of Ino's ultimate weapon. A very suitable name for a truly monstrously scary ability.
That was that and next week, once again would I have to be careful to not let others know more than was needed. It was hard enough as it was with all the curious glances, but now it would be pure scrutiny I would have to face from multiple sources.
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Well as the title stated, Sakura met five people in one day! Hopefully you guys liked it and next chapter Kakashi appears! Hope you guys continue to read and coment! Sorry it took so long to update but i will be updating later on tomorrow maybe at 2p.m BELIEVE IT!