Preventing The Inevitable

Chapter 29

Yūta had a tendency to catch her off guard. It was as if he had some kind of innate instinct that told him exactly when to say what in order to maximize her surprise. He must be a natural at catching spies, Sakura mused briefly. ANBU knew what they were doing when they recruited him for their ranks. Not to mention his keen perception and quick thinking.

Unfortunately, it was these very abilities that forced Sakura to be vigilant every second of the day. Sometimes, she felt like some other force was actively working against her—cursing her with terrible starting conditions, killing off her father, robbing her family of all their money... And as if that wasn't bad enough, they'd planted a constantly paranoid ANBU under her roof.

An ANBU that continued to succeed in leaving her stunned and speechless.

Sorry for not being there for you these days.

Where did that come from?! With how often Kaguya had surprised her during those seven years of war, one would think that Sakura knew how to predict the unexpected by now.

Except she had never learned how to predict it. Just how to deal with it. And how to adapt and continue fighting. Besides, this wasn't an alien rabbit goddess seeking to eliminate humanity, but an eleven-year-old boy who was munching on a piece of cucumber across from her.

Sakura stared at Yūta blankly, her mind already starting to race with thoughts. Yet, even after three full seconds of silence, she was unable to come up with a single thing to possibly reply to that.

That seemed to make the two of them, because Yūta didn't say anything for a while either. It took him eating another two cucumber slices and the silence getting unbearably awkward before he followed up.

"I... Y'know, after..." He started but seemed to change his mind again, picking up the last bit of cucumber as well. Sakura just... stared as the boy chewed slowly. All the while, he looked deep in thought.

When he finally spoke again, Yūta's eyes looked a bit more determined. He drew in a long breath. "I know all of this has been hard on you." He started once again, his voice thick. Sakura didn't ask him what 'all of this' meant, but she had an idea of what it likely included.

"Kāsan has been working a lot, and I'm away on missions. So you're all alone at home during the day." He had his head lowered, not meeting her eyes. His shoulders were tense at his sides, his body perfectly still, almost as if he was holding his breath. Sakura thought she saw his hands shaking for a second. "Ever since..." He cut himself off, and his hands tightened into fists. His low voice was strained, eyes darting from side to side. "I wanted to be there for you. Take you out to play more. Make sure you're not lonely and have someone to talk to... But then I got these missions, and they paid so well." He whispered, a bitter smile on his face.

"I thought I could support Kāsan so she can stop working at that bar. Stop stressing herself all the time." He shook his head, taking a slow, controlled breath. "And you told me about your friend and how you play every day, and you seemed so... unbothered. I let myself think that it was okay to take on some more missions, because you had Keito, and he sounded nice enough, and..."

Yūta lifted his head, his guilt-stricken gaze finally meeting her tight one. "...I'm sorry." He choked out. "I should've made sure your friend was someone I could entrust you with. I should've taught you about the dangers. I should've asked questions. I should've known you wouldn't be fine." He inhaled sharply. "But I was blinded by money," he spat out the word in disgust. Sakura noticed how his tone sharpened for a fraction of a second.

"I saw that you were doing better and thought this was an opportunity. An opportunity to get our old life back. To make everything... right again." His voice cracked.