Parallel Lines | Naruto

𝟓| Ten steps back

Sakura was right, the night happened to be different from the rest. It was as if something invisible had blanketed the Earth and cocooned her in its warmth. For once, the sleep she had slept was dreamless— or at least, nothing worth remembering. When she did wake up, the sun was already high up in the cloudless sky and the murmurs of the streets could be heard from her window left ajar overnight.

A small groan escaped her mouth as she stretched her joints and stood up, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes. This feeling that oozed out of her skin was alarming, she wasn't accustomed to feeling so at ease, lax, as if her worries temporarily washed away and hesitated to return. Sakura wasn't complaining, but anyone who lived through the last five years knew that silence was never a good thing— it was only a means for upcoming disaster to stir in the midst and creep out of the shadows when you least expect it. Despite being a renowned pessimist, anyone smart enough would know that optimism and hope was a dangerous thing to uphold.

After she freshened up, she decided to make herself breakfast, almost forgetting where the kitchen was in the process. The lab and the hospital was her second home while her actual accommodation was too large and spacious to house one individual, but Obito was persistent and she couldn't exactly override the orders of the Hokage. The apartment in itself, the scarce furniture and decorations, and the empty rooms were a reminder of how lonely she was.

She glanced at the table, taking a long sip of her green tea, and noticed something peculiar. The piles of unopened mail and letters weren't the anomaly, but there was a note with familiar handwriting and a lone envelope that piqued her attention.

If anyone asks, you don't know me.
— you know who.

Her brow raised as she looked at the envelope it was attached to, a smile soon spreading across her lips. That damn bastard. Sakura thought, shaking her head with a grin. It's the autopsy report. And he says he's not a rule breaker.

She stowed away the document in her brown satchel, that could wait for once, there was something she needed to do before she consumed her deadly poison.

Before Sakura left the apartment, she paused and stared at her window sill, or rather, what was on it. Her apartment was hollow and deprived of anything that made her her, but Hinata (who harboured the same, damned stubbornness as Shikamaru) was the very light that lit the apartment and made it a home. The sight of wisteria, hyacinths and scorpion grasses had once upon a time left a sickening taste in her mouth, but now, she learned to appreciate the small blessings and the forgotten ache in her heart. It meant that she was still human, that despite everything that transpired, it wasn't enough to strip her off her humanity.

"Kazumi!" Sakura exclaimed, kneeling on the ground, her arms outstretched.

She noticed it almost immediately. For a child, Kazumi was never that expressive to begin with whereas Mikasa was her counterpart- a vibrant bubble of happiness, much like how her brother used to be during his younger years. Kazumi, on the other hand, was not shy— but reserved, she kept to herself and often had trouble making friends outside of her immediate circle.

It wasn't exactly unexpected, after the death of her mother and her sister, and having experienced the traumatic event of being kidnapped by a psychopath who had also killed fifty people before her very eyes— trauma was inevitable, but Sakura had tried her very best to ensure that Kazumi never fell down that rabbit hole even if those close to her had kept her at a distance. Fortunately, after Obito reformed Konoha's education system, it meant that she had the necessary mental support at easy access.