Sarada was suddenly awoken by her alarm clock. Groaning, the girl slowly got up from her bed and prepared to begin her morning routine, which consisted of just showering and dressing up and nothing too much; Sarada wasn't fan of putting on make-up or spending endless hours in front of the mirror. Appearance was never something important for the seventeen years old girl.

The Uchiha went downstairs, mumbled a "good morning" to her mother and sat down for a small breakfast, which was always kind of awkward and quiet. It consisted of Sakura trying her best to sound interested in how Sarada's day passed and Sarada pretending to be enthusiastic about stuff. Sakura was getting more tired and worn-out every day and she couldn't hide it behind her fake smile, because Sarada saw everything – how the absence of Sasuke Uchiha, Sarada's father, hurt her a lot. Sarada herself used be hurt and missed him a lot; she still did, but the girl had to be strong for her mother. So Sasuke was barely mentioned in this house, although his pictures were around every corner.

After eating a toast and drinking some juice, Sarada quickly grabbed her bag, mumbled another "goodbye" to her mom and finally, got out of the house. She and her best friend, Chocho, arranged to meet each other before school, like every day. Sarada let out an annoyed sigh escape her lips when Chocho managed to be late again – it was no wonder, the Akimichi girl spent most of her nights out partying or doing.. whatever she was doing, so she always overslept. Sarada, on the other hand was never a fan of partying and such nonsense, as she called it. She never got the appeal of it, anyways.

Finally, Chocho arrived and apologized, as usual, then began telling Sarada about how she spent the night, about the party and how Bolt managed to get involved with some shit again, perhaps destroying the household or whatever. Sarada was so used to this boy's stupidity that she wasn't even surprised anymore, although she did not approve of his behavior at all. A few minutes later, the two girls arrived at the school and to Sarada's relief, they weren't late. The two girls sat down on their places, which was always on the far right corner of the room and Chocho saw Inojin and got carried away in their conversation, probably laughing about yesterday.

Later, Aburame-sensei appeared and the lesson began. Of course, he couldn't help but mention how grateful they should be that they're living in peaceful times and they get to spend their teen years in school, instead of the battlefield, killing each other. Sarada was grateful, actually. She never wanted to be a ninja in the first place so she was glad that the only thing she had to do was go to school and then go to missions when she graduated. Although, the girl would much rather continue studying.

The lesson ended quickly and nothing much happened, except for the fact that she got assigned with Bolt for some project, which made the girl groan internally. Bolt was the worst possible person to do a project with; Sarada would better prepare to do it on her own, since he wasn't going to do much.. if at all. "Soo, about this project.. my place?" Bolt suggested casually, Sarada simply nodding. Even though Sakura would be happy if Sarada brought some friends over, Sarada would hate it if Bolt started asking questions and stuff about her family. That was a topic that the girl avoided at all costs.

A few hours later all their ninja classes were over and once again, the Uchiha had nothing to do. She had asked if Chocho wanted to hang out, but the Akimichi's social life was quite busy so she couldn't, since she already had other plans. Chocho had always been popular and had many friends – after all, she was fun, pretty, outgoing and confident – despite the fact that some people had tried to bring her down because of her weight, Chocho didn't care at all. She was fine with the way she looked. Sarada had always been quite jealous of her friend's confidence – the ravenette herself has suffered a lot with her self-esteem and was never good at.. talking to people, you know, so she didn't have lots of friends.

Since there was nothing else left to do, Sarada finally got home to prepare her books and stuff before she went to the Hyuuga-Uzumaki household. The house was always empty and quiet, but this time there was quite loud music and smell that made the girl cringe, but she also knew too well because of her friends – cigarettes and.. alcohol?

"Mom!" the girl yelled, looking around the rooms for her mother "Mom!" Suddenly the music stopped, followed by a dropped glass and a few curses. Sarada started walking towards the noise and found Sakura laying on the couch, a cigarette in one hand and a glass of alcohol, whatever it was in the other. Sakura let out an awkwardly forced laugh as she tried to hide the things in her hand and waved in her hands in order to make the smoke around her disappear. "Ah, dear, you're home early! I was just.. you know.. Umm.."

Sarada suddenly turned away, unsure of what to do. Perhaps leaving the situation would be the worst way of dealing with it, but still.. What was there to do? Maybe there was something wrong with Sakura. If she was a good person maybe Sasuke wouldn't have left her and Sarada would have a nice family, just like her friends. What was wrong, for fuck's sake? Whose fault was all of that? Sarada felt her eyes filling with tears – she didn't want to blame this on her mom, she loved her, but.. there HAD to be someone responsible for this. Was it Sarada? Was it her fault that she was born? Did her father hate her?

"Whatever.. I'm going to study with Bolt tonight, so don't wait for me." Sarada spoke coldly, not facing her mother, then she went upstairs to avoid any conversation that was about to come. She laid on the bed, taking out a picture of her father with two more people on it – a redhead with glasses and some guy with white hair. There wasn't a single picture in the house with Sakura and Sasuke in it. God, what kind of fucked up family were they?

Sarada put the picture back under her pillow and decided to get ready to leave. Bolt was probably waiting for her.. and while none of them wanted to do this stupid project with each other, they were still forced to.