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Chapter Seventeen

[Currently editing a few chapters, so I won't post that often]. But, please, enjoy the chapter!] 

But, after this chapter, soon, I will post the first chapter of my new book! It is inspired by @writer168's book called Otokage. This amazing book focuses on the most underestimated character in Naruto (probably before the Shippuden): Sakura Haruno. In this book, she becomes someone her friends would never believe her to become. If you haven't read it, then you should definitely read it. 

Anyways, enjoy the chapter! :]

...---...

Today is June 1st. Although it isn't marked on her calendar or her brother's it is a special day--well, it was. When she woke up she felt the excitement in her chest explode. 

Half of her was expecting her father to run up the stairs of their old house, barge into her room and bring in a cake. 

The other half told herself that they weren't living in their old house anymore--just a crappy apartment with $23 a day--their father wasn't here, and no one was gonna wish her a Happy Birthday like she was a three-year old. 

She was seventeen. More than that, she was poor and fatherless.

So she climbed out of bed, stretched her bony arms, and walked to her desk. It was a school day, but she woke up pretty early. The clock read 4: 20. 

She sat down at her small desk, ignoring the fact that the desk was in fact a rip off. When she bought it with her brother, she was expecting it to live up to its $35 price. But, one of the legs caved in and was replaced by a pile of thick books. 

She cracked her knuckles and pulled out one of the drawers with her sickly thin fingers. For a moment, her eyes were stuck on the pill bottled that rattled and rolled to the edge of the drawer--the one she got during Christmas the year before. But she immediately pushed the bottle away. 

Past all the notebooks and pencils crammed inside the drawer, she pulled out a thick notebook. Although the purpose of the notebook was to hold the papers together, many of the papers were torn loose. The moment she pulled the notebook out of the drawer, many of the papers fell out. She fished through the contents of the drawer to regain the papers and stuck them back inside the notebook. 

She then opened the notebook and stared at the pages, smiling at the many drawings there were. On various pages, there were sketches with only two colors: black and white. But on others, the artist filled in the spaces with colored pencils or painted them in. In the corner was the signature, marked:

Sakumo Hatake

The hours she spent sifting through the pages and admiring the work flew by so fast they were like minutes. She felt the dread in her heart grow when her loneliness was cut short by a few fast-paced footsteps. She immediately threw open the drawer and stuffed the notebooks underneath the other notebooks and pencils. 

Don't let him see the notebook, she reminded herself whenever he woke up. Or else he'll take it,

Like how he took mother's photo. 

The footsteps raced past her room and to the bathroom, before she heard the shower turn on. She immediately got up and walked to the kitchen. There, she prepared breakfast for the both of them. 

When Kakashi finished showering, Sayuri took hers. She made sure to take a short shower--the water was now cold and she had to leave the apartment before Kakashi did. If she didn't leave fast enough, she'd miss the bus to get to school at the earliest time. After doing so, she changed into her clothes and ran down the street. 

Today, the bus was nice enough to not ditch her the moment the bus driver saw her. She had to run to school numerous times because the bus driver didn't like her (like everyone else did). She climbed onto the bus and sat all the way in the back--there, she could sit alone and in solitude. No one else boarded the bus, so no one could make fun of her. 

The day passed by carelessly and fast--so fast she didn't take the time to appreciate how great the day was. She didn't sing herself a "Happy Birthday" song nor did she buy make herself a cupcake at the cafe she worked at. She dropped those things long ago. 

My birthday is merely a warning. It's to tell me that my senior year is almost up. 

She had to make up enough money to go to the right college--one farthest away from where she lived. 

Don't worry, niisan. I'll be gone before you know it.