Just in Time

Sore spot

Even though it was only late afternoon, Sarada still felt very tired when they got back to the house. Akane had done some shopping of her own after their visit to the tailor and seemed disappointed when Sarada carried the heavy groceries without a problem.

The old housekeeper did not even try to conceal her aversion towards her. It made Sarada wonder what she had done to the woman to get on her bad side.

They had just met a few hours ago, so it could not have been something she had done.

It was possible she had not done anything, but the old woman simply disliked her or maybe she did not like her for some other reason, Sarada could not know. However, Sarada still had to be careful around the housekeeper. Were she to get wind of Sarada's origin, well, let's say there would be any number of bad things that could happen.

As soon as she had entered her room, Sarada felt exhausted. She had not done anything that would justify being so tired but the thought of sleeping was so tempting and she had not strength left.

She lied down with the thought of "just five minutes ", but as soon as her head touched the pillow, her mind drifted off into a deep sleep.

She was in the kitchen of her mother's apartment.

The stainless steel stove and the white kitchen gave it a very modern feel but she did not know why she suddenly saw that.

It was a lazy Sunday morning and soft sunlight illuminated the wide open space of the room that was living room and kitchen at the same time. Sarada, still in her pjs, wanted to make coffee but the machine had to run a cleaning program. She sighed and watched the hot water running out of the nozzle. Plumes of steam rose up, dancing in the light.

Over the noise of the machine, she heard something. It was her mother, who had just entered the room.

Sakura was already fully dressed and she smiled at her. She was surprised to see that Sarada was awake already.

"Go shower, your dad will be here soon."

Dad. She felt thrilled; it had been ages since he had come by. Her mother saw her beaming smile and said, "Happy birthday, Sarada."

"Mom."

They hugged, and their giddy laughter filled the apartment.

Sarada gathered some clothes and went to the bathroom, a spring in her step. They would go to the city center for breakfast and she could not wait to spend a day with her parents.

She turned on the water and waited for it to get warm, then got in. Even though it was her birthday, she would treat her parents.

My birthday , she thought, which birthday was this ?

The steady stream of water suddenly went cold.

When she woke up the light was different. It was an overcast autumn morning.

Really, Sarada, have you slept for more than twelve hours? She thought.

This was not the worst thing though. Not only had she slept long, but apparently she had slept like the proverbial stone, because there now was a small table in her room. It had her breakfast on it, and a pot of tea was kept warm by a small candle placed underneath it.

Someone had entered her room, placed the table there and left without her waking up. On a mission this could have been deadly.

She should have woken up, where were her ninja instincts? She sighed deeply and threw back the covers.