Chapter 6:

The living room was quiet excluding the continuous tap of a well-manicured fingernail hitting the table.

"Maa, I knew Sakura-chan was going to be late again. It's a really bad habit she's picked up..." Kushina said with a sigh. She paused in her tapping to stand up, cuing Mikoto to rise as well.

"I think we can set the table now Kushina. She should be here soon. Sasuke, you did say 7:30, right?" Mikoto asked. Sasuke nodded his head. "Good, it's a quarter past 8. Right then, you boys tidy up so we can all have dinner soon." With that, Mikoto and Kushina headed towards the kitchen.

"Mikoto-oba-chan and Kushina-san are so scary..." Shisui said to Itachi, staring warily at the doorway as if expecting them to hear him. Itachi grunted.

"I thought I was going to die." Naruto agreed. The two women had been extremely insistent on having the meal together after everybody had arrived. They had been on strict lock down ever since Sasuke and Naruto were caught trying to steal a bite.

The sudden loud growl from his stomach prompted Naruto to race for the bathroom to get to the sink before the 'Teme' did. Sasuke, not to be outdone, was hot on his heels. Kakashi sighed at their antics, following behind them lazily.

Shisui and Itachi both stood silently in unison, following the triad of young ninja.

.

Fugaku said nothing, but his shoulders relaxed the slightest after the two women had left the room.

Minato let out a deep breath he had been holding in. Kushina and Mikoto had been extremely touchy since they had discovered Sakura's arrival. Minato knew they both doted on her ever since she had visited as Itachi's friend when she was younger and treated her almost as the daughter they never had. However, their overzealous efforts seemed to terrify the poor girl. Minato was petrified at the thought of bringing up the subject and Fugaku refused to address it. So the problem remained.

"Sakumo is still out on his mission?" Fugaku questioned the blonde man casually. After all, Minato had insisted that he address him as a friend as Fugaku had done so before he had become the Hokage. At least when they were out of the public eye of course. And Fugaku felt vaguely smug that he could do so. Take that Hyuuga.

"Yes," Minato sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. He got up from his spot and stretched as both men headed towards the bathroom to wash up. "The mission is going to take a few days at least. Had I known Kushina was going to pull something like this..."

Minato was interrupted by Naruto's loud yell as he and Sasuke raced past them out of the bathroom and towards the dining room. Kakashi followed at a much more sedate pace, giving them a small bow in apology for his teammates' actions. Fugaku stared at the trail of soapy drops with annoyance.

"Ease up, Fugaku. Let them be children while they can." Minato said with a hand on the man's shoulder. Fugaku grunted. His eye twitched when Shisui too passed them in a rush, although not as quick as the two genin had. He had a mischievous grin on his face as he disappeared into the dining room. Not a second later, Itachi emerged from the hall with a slight look of irritation on his face. He nodded at his father and superior before leaving for the kitchen as well.

Fugaku stared at the Itachi until he too disappeared from view. He blinked. Had that been... soap suds in his eldest son's hair? Minato's uneasy laugh confirmed his suspicions.

"Come on, Fugaku. I'm sure we're all hungry."

"Absolutely starving." Fugaku said flatly.

...

...

The moment that Mikoto had set the last plate down, they heard a tentative knock echo on the wood of the shoji door. Mikoto smiled.

Sasuke shuddered. Was it just him or had he been imagining the momentary bloodlust?

"Coming!" Mikoto called as she gracefully strolled out to get the door.

The occupants of the dining room jumped when they heard shoji door make a loud bang from being pushed to the side too hard.

"Sakura-chan! How wonderful to see you! How long has it been? Four years?" Mikoto said in a somewhat sickly sweet voice. They all strained their ears, waiting for the reply.

"Ah... Err... Yes?"

"..."

"Wah! Gomen'nasai, Mikoto-san! Gomen, gomen it's just you see, um, it was a really last minute thing and all that, and uh-" Itachi's lips twitched as he heard Sakura stutter out excuses.

"I brought flowers!" They heard the girl say in a last-ditch effort to avoid Mikoto's wrath. "Please don't kill me!" They winced. The last part was probably unnecessary. There was silence before they heard Mikoto's soft laugh, and a light squeak.

"Okaeri, Sakura."

"...Arigato Mikoto-san."

"I told you to call me Mikoto already, didn't I?"

"I think so."

"Wow! These flowers are beautiful!"

"Hai... This one's for you and the other one is for Kushina-san..."

"They're wonderful. Do come in! Everybody's been waiting."

The occupants of the dining room watched the entryway in anticipation as they heard the front door slide shut. Mikoto was the first to arrive, one arm carrying a beautiful bouquet of soft, pastel toned flowers and the other carrying a bright bouquet of multi-colored flowers that managed miraculously not to clash with each other.

"Minna! Look who's back!" Mikoto said cheerfully. Mikoto tugged the older teen into the doorway.

Shisui's POV

~o~

Shisui inhaled sharply at the sight of his old childhood friend.

"Ano... Hi?" Sakura said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head with her free hand. Shisui's eyes roved over her. She had grown up, but he could tell if he were to stand next to her, he would easily be a head taller than her. She had chosen to wear the Jonin uniform although she lacked the vest to go with it and any visible skin she had, save her face, seemed to be wrapped in bandages. Her long hair was neatly braided and her hitai-ate came to rest lopsided on her head, covering her left eye as she had begun to wear it so years ago.

It had been so long.

Her greeting was for the most part met with silence, and Sakura shifted uncomfortably.

Shisui stared at her dazed, although somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized that Naruto had begun talking. Scratch that, yelling.

"You're late!" Naruto shouted, glaring at her accusingly.

"Ah... Well you see, proper etiquette inclines that I must bring a present for the host... And while I was picking flowers, I ran into this man, and he needed help picking some flowers for his girlfriend-"

"Liar! Nobody but you buys flowers late at night!" Naruto said, jumping up. Shisui watched the boy promptly being mowed down by his mother with a wince. The Yondaime's wife then proceeded practically tackled Sakura who nearly fell over from the momentum.

"Sakura-chan! You're back! You don't know how much I've missed you!" Kushina cried, squeezing the teen.

"Kushina...san! Long time... no- Ack! See-!" Sakura managed to choke out.

"Mou! Do you know how worried I was?" Kushina sniffled and held her at arm's length to inspect her, slowly calming down. Seeing that the teen looked fine, her expression quickly shifted to one of anger.

"How dare you leave without a single word!" Kushina raged as she smacked the pink-haired girl over her head. "Four years! No note, no communication or signs of contact at all! Do you have any idea how people who care about you felt? Not knowing if you were bleeding to death somewhere in the middle of nowhere or not?! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"Gomen'nasai! Hontoni Gomen'nasai! It was really sudden and there wasn't any time for farewells, and you see the mission required me to travel a lot so I was never in one place for too long so I really didn't have too much time for anything," Sakura rambled, gripping her abused head.

"I really meant to write at some point, but I wasn't sure if that would make everyone even more mad so I thought maybe it was better not to? And-" Kushina smacked the teen's head again, albeit considerably more gently then before.

"Excuses, Sakura-chan." Kushina admonished with a smile. She gave the younger female a light hug before stepping back and receiving her flowers from Mikoto.

Kushina eyed the bouquet appreciatively. While Mikoto's flowers seemed more delicate and elegant, something that suited the matriarch of the Uchiha clan, Kushina's were brightly colored and loud. It practically screamed 'Kushina' all over. Shisui chuckled inwardly. It seemed as if the Hanakotoba lessons had finally sunken in.

While the Uzumaki woman admired the flowers, Sakura ducked into a quick bow as she spotted the Uchiha clan leader and Hokage. "Uchiha-sama, Yondaime-sama," Sakura murmured. Fugaku inclined his head while the Fourth Hokage gave her a little wave. Sakura smiled at her genin team before finally turning him and Itachi.

"Shisui...Itachi...Hey?" She said softly, guilt thick in her tone. Shisui gave her a mock pout.

"Ma, leaving us for last? That's cruel, Sakura."

"I leave the best for last, Shisui," Sakura returned with a grin, though it faltered quickly. "Are you two mad..? I mean of course you probably are. I'm really sorry about that. I would have liked to inform you of my leave, but circumstances prevented me from doing so. I sincerely apologize."

"Don't speak so formally. We're friends, ne?" Sakura perked up. "However, I can't say I'm not mad and slightly confused, and same for Itachi too." Shisui said. He saw her flinch slightly.

Shisui stood up. He inwardly gloated as he realized he was right; Sakura was still shorter than him. He approached slowly, eyes thick with emotion. He smiled warmly as he wrapped her small body in his arms, her head tucking just beneath his chin. He felt warmth spread through his body as she returned his embrace with the same amount of fervor.

"Okaeri, Sakura." For a moment, Shisui swore that she had stiffened, but her body relaxed immediately afterwards as she replied with just as much emotion.

"Tadaima..." Shisui leaned back as he saw his cousin approach. Sakura offered him a smile, stepping forward to wrap the younger Uchiha in a hug.

"Welcome back." Itachi said as his face softened. His own arms coming up to wrap the girl in a hug.

"Good to be back." She replied. They stepped back after a few moments as the three appraised each other, seeing how each of them had grown.

"We will talk about this later," Itachi finally spoke up. Sakura nodded easily.

Before anything else could be said, Mikoto, who had left the room earlier came back with two water filled vases. She handed one over to Kushina as she happily placed her own flowers into the vase.

"These are really pretty, Sakura-chan. Where did you get these? I don't think I've seen some of these in any of the flower shops here..." Mikoto asked.

"Actually, I collected most of them while traveling around. With enough fūinjutsu knowledge, it's a pretty simple task to store and preserve flowers and I thought that you would like them... Ano, Mikoto-san? I'm pretty sure everybody's really hungry..."

"Ah! Of course! Let's start dinner, shall we?" Mikoto said as she strategically herded Sakura to the table so that she would be sitting right next to Itachi and Shisui before forcing her to sit down.

...No One's POV...

"You actually grew," Shisui said with a smirk.

"And you two grew too." Sakura said slightly irritably. "You couldn't just stay at the same height before I left, could you?" Shisui chuckled at this, making a show of sidling closer to her to show off the height comparison even in their sitting positions. Shisui glanced at Itachi was ignoring them and eating silently. He reached out to smack him.

"'Tachi-chan! You know it's rude to ignore a lady!" Itachi snorted.

"What lady? I'm guessing that you don't mean yourself," Itachi said as Shisui protested with a small 'Hey!', "So then may I guess that you're talking about this grade school kid here?" Itachi asked, jerking his head towards Sakura. She huffed indignantly.

"Itachi! I'm way taller than some 'grade school kid'! I'll have you know that I passed the five foot mark a while ago!"

"So what? You're saying you're 5'1" now?" Itachi asked. He smirked inwardly at her disgruntled expression.

"I didn't say that!"

"But you're not denying it either."

"That's because I don't check how tall I am every single day, Itachi."

"Doesn't change anything. Facts are facts, Sakura." He teased.

'He has a point. Now if only you had listened to me and did what I said, then this body- we wouldn't be so ridiculously short!'

'Why is my height any of your concern? It doesn't hinder me in battle so it matters little.'

'Height does play a certain factor intimidation, you know?'

'I have pink hair. I'm pretty sure that nulls everything vaguely threatening about me.'

Outwardly, Sakura started to stand up.

"I want to sit next to Kakashi-chan. If I sit next to you two, I might actually start being self-conscious about my height." Shisui swung an arm around Sakura before she could properly get up.

"Sakura," he whined. "You just came back and you're leaving already? You can't do this to me!"

"Of course, Shisui. What was I thinking? How could I possibly bear to leave you again? Moving just a mere five feet away would kill you." Sakura said just as dramatically. Shisui laughed. The corner of Itachi's lips twitched into a smile.

Mikoto watched the three interact with immense satisfaction, while Fugaku stared at his wife with a growing wariness. He shrugged before returning to the meal set out before him.

Not my problem until it becomes my problem.

The dinner managed to pass by smoothly with steady chatter that filled the length of the meal. Everyone helped clean up the dishes and table, and to Fugaku's relief, it managed to happen without any major catastrophic disasters. Mikoto excused herself to go retrieve the promised dango and Itachi sneaked into the kitchen after her. The remaining adults had removed themselves to the living room so that they could talk in peace.

"Sakura-chan, you seem really happy." Naruto commented.

"Of course. I haven't had Mikoto's dango in years. Quite literally." At Shisui's semi-smug look, she added, "But traveling around has allowed me to taste a wide variety of dango from all over the world. Many were quite excellent, if I say so myself. Although I do miss Mikoto's homemade dango..." Shisui's face drew into a scowl.

"You're drooling," Sasuke said flatly. Sakura grinned sheepishly as she wiped the trail of liquid with her sleeve.

"Whoops. But Sasuke-chan, your mother's dango is top-notch. I can't believe you don't like it."

"Yeah," Naruto grunted. "My Kaa-chan can't make edible dango if her life depended on it. But otherwise Kaa-chan's cooking is the best." Sasuke's eyes flashed at this, and soon, the two boys began bantering on whose mother was superior and what not.

Kakashi watched on silently.

Sakura easily picked up Kakashi's loneliness that the boy would never admit to feeling. An idea popped into her head. She grinned cheerily as she beckoned him over.

"Ne, Kakashi-chan~ Come over here." Kakashi glanced up in surprise before walking around the table so that he was beside her. His head tilted in question. Sakura grinned as she yanked him down so that he was sitting in between her legs.

"Oi!" Kakashi protested in embarrassment as he attempted to stand back up. Sakura merely wrapped her arms around his waist while pinning his arms to his side. She rested her chin on his head.

"We used to this all the time when we were younger, eh Kakashi?" Sakura said leaning down next to his year. Kakashi's ears burned red.

"I was eight!"

"Kakashi-chan!" Sakura whined as he continued to struggle. "I thought you loved me!" She hugged the struggling boy harder as she buried her face in the crook of his shoulder.

"Let go!"

"Yes, please do." Shisui said flatly, unamused. Kakashi paused. Sakura lifted her head to give Shisui a small pout.

"Shisui, I thought you were on my side..?"

"Yeah, yeah. But you know the boy is a teen now. You don't have to coddle him so much." Shisui huffed.

"Nonsense. They're still young. I can coddle them all I want," Sakura said, sticking her tongue out childishly. "Right, Kakashi-chan?"

Kakashi made a noise of response, head turned away.

Sakura grinned at Shisui triumphantly who only glared at the boy who was no longer struggling. Shisui tried again.

"Since you're his Sensei now, people might take it the wrong way." Sakura tilted her head in confusion.

"How would the take it then, Shisui? I've known Kakashi ever since he was born. I'm pretty sure I can get away with pulling stuff like this." Sakura said as she poked the boy's sides. She pouted at his unresponsiveness.

Sasuke and Naruto had watched the proceedings, frozen mid-fight.

"Hey, no fair!" Naruto suddenly burst out. "Why does Kakashi-teme get to sit with Sakura-chan?!"

"Because Kakashi-chan is my favorite~" Sakura said teasingly.

"Why?!"

"Because he's Kakashi-chan." Sakura said with a smile. Naruto pouted and Sasuke glared at the silver-haired boy who looked smug, contrasting to his earlier embarrassment.

"What are you, a kid?" Sasuke asked Kakashi. Before Kakashi could rebuke, Sakura cut in.

"You jealous, Sasuke-chan?"

"No."

"Then it shouldn't concern you, right?" Sasuke glared at her.

"Oh my," Mikoto said as she walked into the room. She hid a grin behind her hand as she saw Shisui and Naruto pout at the pink-haired who was currently hugging the lone Hatake. She heard Itachi approach behind her, carrying the tray of dango. He raised an eyebrow at the scene before sliding around his mother and taking his place at the table.

Sakura's eyes lit up at the tantalizing dango Itachi was carrying. She immediately grabbed eight skewers before he could even set the tray down, one skewer between each of the junction of her fingers. Shisui gave a light scowl at her as he reached for his own dango.

"Oi, 'Tachi! You ate a bunch while you were in the kitchen didn't you?!" Shisui said, eyeing the somewhat meager amount of dango present compared to the amount he had seen in the kitchen earlier.

Itachi shrugged. He grabbed a couple of sticks before his cousin swiped away the tray with a glare. Shisui's eye twitched as Sakura reached over to pluck four more sticks of dango.

"Sakura! Stop hogging the dango!" Shisui yelled as he lifted the tray over his head and out of her reach.

"I've been through depravity."

"You said you ate plenty of dango while traveling?!"

"But it wasn't Mikoto-san's dango. Besides... Due to... reasons, I faced a very strict budget in which the most I could afford was three plates of dango a month." Sakura replied smoothly, handing a single stick of dango to Kakashi was still seated with her. He accepted it without complaint, knowing there was a high chance that this would be the only dango he was getting.

Shisui barely managed to move the tray to his left as Itachi reached out to get a couple more. Itachi escaped with two more sticks in hand.

"At least finish what you have!" Shisui cried desperately when he saw his cousin hadn't even finished the dango he had taken.

Shisui glared at the tray. There were only three left.

"Remember to share," Mikoto scolded as she walked into the living room with her own tray of deserts.

Shisui turned as he felt the gazes of the other two genin across from him. They both stared at him.

"What's with those expectant looks?" Shisui asked, eyes narrow.

"Share~" Naruto sing-songed.

"You heard Kaa-san. Share."

"Sasuke, you don't even like sweet things!"

"As Sakura said, my mother's dango is top-notch, and I find myself in the mood to eat some today." Sasuke said. Shisui looked back and forth between the two boys. He was certain he could make a break for it with the dango and escape successfully, but if Sasuke told Oba-chan... He caught Sakura and Itachi staring at him expectantly out of the corner of his eye. With a deep sigh, he made his decision.

...

Shisui glumly ate his single stick of dango. The two boys sitting across from him looked smug. Even Sasuke who had eaten one ball of dango before handing it to his older brother who had heartlessly devoured it right in front him.

Shisui savored the delicious taste of the last dango ball.

Shisui caught Sakura smiling at him.

"That was very noble of you." Shisui offered her a smile.

"Of course. The great and honorable Shisui could never let his poor underlings starve." Shisui ignored the loud protests from his younger cousin and the blonde boy.

"Here."

Shisui blinked. Sakura held out her left fist which still held four, untouched sticks of dango that she had swiped earlier.

"Sakura... You..." Shisui's eyes watered up dramatically. "You're sharing?" Sakura huffed.

"It's not that big of a deal. I've already had six sticks at once, and I don't feel up to it today." Sasuke and Naruto stared at her other hand which was clutching six sticks which were empty of the sweet dumplings that had been previously occupying it.

'She really did finish all of it...' Sasuke thought in slight horror. She was almost as bad as Naruto was with ramen.

"Only six?" Shisui cocked his head. "Are you actually starting to be concerned about your weight?"

"Not at all. I just thought that this way, when I go to Hell, I'll have at least one positive deed to write on my resume." Sakura said straight-faced.

"Ha-ha. Very funny." Shisui said as he accepted the four sticks offered.

Shisui slapped Itachi's hand away with a glare when his cousin attempted to snatch his dango once more. Shisui saw him subtly pout.

"Kakashi-chan, say 'ah'." Sakura said as she attempted to feed Kakashi the last stick of dango she had. Naruto and Sasuke watched expectantly, and he was drawing curious looks from Shisui and Itachi as well. Kakashi felt pride as his two teammates glared at the already clean dango stick in his hand. He had survived being detected during meals miraculously for the past years he's known them. He had learned from years of observation about when people were occupied or distracted, and how to redirect their gazes. With such a perfect record, there was no way he was going to get caught now.

"No." Kakashi said adamantly.

"Eh? Oh, right. The mask." Sakura hummed. Sakura stared at the stick for a while before coming to a decision. With a shrug, she slid two of the dumplings into her mouth, muttering the number 'seven' under her breath.

"Six and two-thirds." Itachi corrected. Sakura glanced at him before whipping towards her last stick, just in time to see Itachi swipe the last dumpling and pop it in his mouth.

"Itachi, you thief." Sakura said around the contents of her mouth.

"'Tachi-chan! You already ate a bunch!" Shisui said waving his hand. It did not escape the genins' notice that two of the four sticks were licked clean.

"I did not eat a bunch, Shisui. I've only had nine sticks so far. Nine and one-thirds if you count the one I ate just now."

"You ate nine?!"

"Itachi, I want my refund now! I demand you to spit out the dango you just ate!"

Kushina gave Sakura one last hug, thanking her for the flowers. The Namikaze family left with Naruto in tow who was yelling how he would beat Sasuke tomorrow.

Sakura's arm dropped as the trio disappeared around the corner.

"Sakura-chan. It was nice seeing you." Mikoto said warmly.

"Yes, I enjoyed coming over after so long," Sakura agreed. "I thank you for having me over." Sakura said with a bow to the Uchiha patriarch. Fugaku gave a short nod. With a brief farewell, he disappeared. He wasn't too social, after all.

Sakura turned and crouched slightly next to Sasuke.

"Bright and early tomorrow, ne Sasuke?"

"Tch. Just make sure you come on time." Sasuke said with his arms crossed.

"Hai, hai. I will do my best. I apologize once again, and thank you for the wonderful meal, and the dango you have given me." Sakura said, holding up the promised, packaged dango with a smug grin. Shisui and Itachi looked cheated. No wonder she had so generously handed over her dango to Shisui.

"It's fine, Sakura-chan. Just make sure you come over as often as you can."

"I will do my best." Sakura said, once again giving a short bow. "Itachi, Shisui. If you have some free time this week, we can discuss further about anything you're curious about."

"For sure. I'm think I'm free this Thursday... How does around noon sound? Same place of course." Shisui asked. Itachi gave a small nod. He was free then.

"I think I can pull it off." Sakura agreed.

"We have training!" Sasuke protested.

"You think you can finish your training menu by then?" Sakura fired back. Sasuke grumbled. "Well don't worry," Sakura said, patting his head. "I'll try to get someone to supervise you guys so you guys don't slack off."

"Well, Ja ne~ I'll see you tomorrow, Sasuke-chan." Sakura said with one last pat. She gave the Uchiha matriarch one last hug before doing the same to the two older Uchiha.

"You better come," Shisui warned before disappearing over the rooftops with one last glare at the bag Mikoto had prepared for her.

"Yes sir," Sakura said as she waved him off. She turned back to the group.

"Well, I'm going to walk Kakashi-chan home, then." Sakura said, tugging the boy to her side as he finished putting on his sandals.

"I know how to get home..."

"But it's not safe to let little boys walk home alone at night." Sakura said with a smile.

"I'll walk with you," Itachi offered.

"Itachi, you need all the rest you can get, or else those lines on you face will reach the bottom of your face." Itachi twitched.

"But it's not safe to let little girls walk home alone at night," Itachi said.

"Don't mock me, Itachi. Mikoto-san, please make sure Itachi gets some rest. I can tell he hasn't got proper sleep in a while. Kakashi-chan and I will be fine."

Mikoto who had originally wanted to encourage her eldest son to walk her immediately turned to inspect the boy with a sharp eye. Indeed, his posture seemed a bit forced and his eyes were slightly lidded.

"Ah, I will make sure he does, Sakura-chan." Mikoto assured her. "Get home safely. You too, Kakashi."

"Hai, arigato Mikoto-san," The two said as they both left the Uchiha's house.

"Bye!" Sakura waved exuberantly as she walked backwards until the door finally slid shut. She spun around and face forward. She grinned down at the boy next to her as she took his hand.

"Maa, I guess it's just you and me now. Your father is off on a mission, isn't he?" Kakashi nodded silently.

"It's going to take a few days."

"Hm... So you're taking care of the house by yourself? You know isolation isn't good for you." Sakura said with a sigh.

"It's fine. I'm used to it."

"Becoming a real lone wolf, aren't you Kakashi-chan?"

"... I have my ninken." Kakashi muttered sullenly.

"Mou, I'm going to say that doesn't count. Independence is fine, Kakashi-chan, but remember this: if you're ever lonely or upset, and your father's not around, you have your teammates and friends to lean on."

"Right..." Kakashi said softly. Sakura stared at him with soft eyes. Her eyes turned towards the sky as they slowly walked out of the Uchiha compound.

"There aren't as many stars visible as there are in the desert..."

"You mean like in the Land of Wind?"

"Yeah... Maybe it's because of all the lights in this village or something..." Sakura swung their arms. Kakashi didn't protest.

That night, Sakura made sure Kakashi was tucked in bed safely before leaving.

Sakura gave the Hatake residence one last look, and with a sigh left. She fished out a stick of dango from the package Mikoto had given her and began walking.

She did not head in the direction of her apartment.

A/N: Sorry about the late update, but I had a hard time writing this chapter. It is difficult to write in all the characters present without totally leaving them out, and there's also the matter of character.

Itachi and Shisui are especially difficult since there isn't too much about them. Itachi isn't too talkative (since his father was present), but is kind and a bit playful(?). Shisui was even harder since a lot of authors usually write him as somebody who is extremely cheerful and sort of a black sheep in the clan based on the fact that Itachi says the Naruto reminds him of Shisui. But from what I've seen in anime, I feel that Shisui is bit more respectful and serious than that, although he is joking and playful with Itachi.

Sakura... Since I am writing her OOC, I suppose I want her to be strong, but also kind and polite. She will also lack her usual temper to reasons that will be explained much later. Much much later.

Also, I'll try to write longer chapters while I can. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Leave a review, it really helps!

Also, Happy Birthday Itachi~!

~Tokumei Yurei