Cherry Blossoms Life Redone

Apartments Neighbors and the Academy

'Sup people, this is my next revised chapter, honestly I have no idea what I was thinking when I wrote my old chapters -winces- they sucked. Anyway, here's the next REVISED chapter.

-DISCLAIMER- I don't own Naruto or any of the Naruto characters.
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(Hokage's P.O.V.)

I sighed tiredly as I walked next to Sakura-chan, a few of the heavier bags in my hands while Sakura-chan held the lighter bags. She was walking with a seemingly careless grace and smiling happily like a kid would. She was sucking on a lollipop that one of the vendors had given to her and chattering about random things as we walked.

On the outside she looked completely fine, as if the events of the past days hadn't bothered her, but I knew better. This was her facade, some of it fake while some of it real. She wasn't completely recovered and I don't think she ever will, but she was slowly becoming her old self. I know this was her way of coping. Until she could come to terms with her life for now, she would use her facade to get by. Im not happy with this, but sometimes it's easier to hide behind a mask while you healed.

Looking up, I nodded to the civilians that had stopped to bow to me and smiled at the younger children there. Turning my head I smiled as I saw what I had been looking for.

"Sakura-chan, turn left, we're here." I said. She had managed to convince me to allow her to live alone. I had wanted to have her live with a flat-mate or better yet with a family, but she hard refused harshly. I had been shocked but then I realized why. Sakura-chan needed somewhere where she could stay without any reminders of the happening, where she could let her mask fall.

Staying with a family would no doubt open up the slow healing wounds as she was constantly reminded of how she no longer had her own parents. Living with a flat-mate would mean she would have to be cheery, would have to keep up her facade. I knew how she thought, she thought that until she was stronger, she would use this facade to hide behind. She thought that if she cried before someone, then she would burden them with her problems, and that was what she was trying to avoid.

"Hokage-jii?" I heard Sakura-chan ask and snapped out of my thoughts to see we were standing outside the building I had been looking for. I smiled apologetically to Sakura-chan and she just nodded, another grin showing on her face and I resisted the urge to frown. She was getting too good at hiding her emotions. She mixed just enough of her real emotions in with the fake ones, making it look as though they were genuine, not something she had crafted. And to think it had only been a few days, if a ninja had this skill they could-

I cut myself off as I walked into the building, Sakura-chan behind me. I would not force her down that road, not make her into a killing machine, she would not be forced to become another Itachi Uchiha.

Holding back a sigh, I knocked on the door of the landlord's door. A few thumps were heard along with a groan before the door finally opened, revealing a young boy who looked maybe around 11 years of age, at the most. Pale skin made dark Crimson eyes stand out almost to the affect to make it seem as though they were glowing. White hair fell over his forehead, streaks of black running through them.

"And you might be?" I asked, I was not aware that the landlord had a child, if memory serves, the landlord to this apartment complex was not one to meddle with the other gender, partly the reason I chose here for Sakura-chan to live.

"A-ah Hokage-sama!" The child exclaimed, clumsily tripping over his feet into a bow, cheeks heating up as Sakura-chan let out a soft giggle at his expense. I resisted the urge to laugh myself, this emotion seemed to be the most genuine from Sakura-Chan ever since she had awoken.

"A-Ano, I'm Kitaru Kasihame" he said, remembering my previous question. 'Aa, he was Kasihame-san's son, that made sense, but what was he doing at the landlord's home?'