An Imperfect Spectrum

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Note:

uh

hi

long time no see?

unedited as always

.<>.

When Shisui walks into the Haruno's store, he doesn't know what he's expecting. He doesn't even know what he was doing there. But there he was. And there was Sakura, directing genin on how to work a cash register, wearing a green dress he'd seen her wear once at school.

She turned away from the genin, confident that they wouldn't cause the storefront to set fire, and turned, meeting his eyes with tired green ones.

"Hi Shisui!" The genin stiffened at the intruding Uchiha. "How are you today?"

"Good! Auntie wanted me to invite you to dinner."

"Ah." Sakura frowned, glancing back at the genin team. "Well, give Mikoto my apologies, I have a lot to do around here."

"I can see." He frowned around the room. "You better show up to training tomorrow anyways."

She responded with a fake salute and a tired smile. "Will do."

Sakura never made it to training.

.<>.

"But-"

"No!" Her gather hollered, grabbing her training clothes and kunai pouch in anger. "Your mother may have tolerated this ninja nonsense, but I refuse to have it in my house!."

He stormed out, leaving Sakura in her dim room, surrounded by shelves filled with books and scrolls. She waited a few seconds before grabbing a storage seal from the shelf and jamming as many things as she could into it, only stopping when she heard the loud footsteps of her father come back up the stairs.

There was a bang, and her father stormed back in, holding a large bag. "Everything is going in here. You won't touch it except for school, understood?"

"Yes sir." She grumbled and began to load book after book from the shelf into the bag. Her father stood over her as she worked, nodded to himself, and began ripping things from her drawers and throwing them into the bag too.

Sakura took in a breath, gripping the book in her hand tighter as she tried to get her hand to stop shaking. She placed another book into the bag. This wasn't right. Another book in the bag. Her dad shouldn't be like this. Another book passed from her hands. She had to get out. The last book on the shelf. She had to leave.

.<>.

There was always a dull buzz from the wards that Mikoto could feel under her skin, keeping her keyed into the compound as a hole in a way that meant nothing could be hidden from her. So when they shifted and let someone into her home just after Itachi went to bed, she didn't get up in a panic, or alert her sleeping husband to the intruder. The wards wouldn't budge if it was someone uninvited, so instead, she closed her eyes and fell asleep. Down the hall, Sakura did the same.

When she woke, dawn was an hour away and the house was silent. She walked to the closet, grabbing some decent workout clothes to throw on for training and went to check on Sakura. The door creaked when she opened it, and she winced as the girl turned a bit under the blankets. Her things were scattered across the floor in piles, the shelf half filled with scrolls and books while the rest were stacked on the floor next to it. Nodding to herself, Mikoto stepped back out of the room and shut the door again, heading towards the bathroom to change.

Her run crossed paths with Gai twice, once on her way to the training grounds, and once on her way back from them. He smiled energetically at her, speaking of how "Youthful She Was Being, Keeping Up With Her Training Though She Was No Longer An Active Jonin," and that, "Her Taijutsu Was Coming Along Nicely Considering She'd Been Out Of Practice." but did not distract her from her tasks. She was covered in sweat by the time the sky began changing color, and in the shower when the sun broke the horizon.

.<>.

Sakura awoke to the smell of eggs, and the distinct feel of low chakra stores. She wanted to lay in bed, to stay under the warm covers and ignore the world around her and wallow in pity because her own father refused to accept her choices in life, but, she knew she'd never get that chance here. Especially since she'd shown up unannounced in the middle of the night. So, despite her unwillingness, she forced herself from her bed and down the stairs,

"Good morning Sakura! Did you sleep well?"

"Morning."

Mikoto, bless her, didn't comment on her lack of enthusiasm, and instead handed her a stack of plates to put on the table. She set them quickly, chopsticks and a napkin at each spot. She returned to the to grab the rice, and then, the glasses.

Itachi was the first person down for breakfast, holding Sasuke in his arms, moving to put him into the highchair by the head of the table. He paused as he made eye contact with the pink hair girl as she juggled two stacks of cups, before nodding a quick good morning. She smiled in response, and went back into the kitchen, only to appear seconds later as Mikoto pushed her back out again.

"Good morning I guess." Itachi stared at the doorway where his mother's arms had been seconds before.

.<>.

Fugaku stared at her as she sat at the table, clasping her hands together in thanks before grabbing the eggs from the center of the tabla. Unlike Mikoto, he hadn't noticed her arrive in the dead of the night, so needless to say, her sitting silently at the table as if she had never left their house threw him for a loop.

"Hello Sakura."

"Hi." She said, grabbing her bowl of rice and taking a bite.

"So," he swallowed, sweeping his gaze across the table. "When did you get here?"

"Last night." She shrugged, taking another bite of rice.

"I welcomed her in, she looked rather tired." Mikoto pitched in, giving a secret smile to Sakura.

"Yeah." She placed the bowl back onto the table. "Dad took my weapons and training gear because I wasn't working the register at the shop, so I took it back, sealed it, and left."

Mikoto blinked, thinking back to the mess that was Sakura's room, before sighing and turning towards Fugaku.

'You know what we have to do.' Her eyes said.

'No. Absolutely not.' Fugaku willed back.

.<>.

"I understand your concern, but you as well as I know we cannot allow this to happen."

Fugaku nodded stiffly, bowing to the elders and the civilian council before exiting the room and out the building where his wife was waiting expectantly.

"So?" He shook his head.

"They won't let us."

"WHAT?" She stared angrily at the door where he had come from.

"Don't storm up there." He warned, preparing himself to stop her from moving, except-

"I won't." Her smile was terrifying, her eyes seeming to glow with barely contained anger. "I'll do something much better."

Fugaku gulped, staring at his wife as she made her way back down the path towards the compound. Those poor elders wouldn't know what hit them.

.<>.

Note:

characters out of character? check

months late chapter? check

sorry not sorry? Check

hell hath no fury like Mikoto? yep