Twiceborn: Second Bloom | Alternate

Chapter Eleven: Sibling Secrets

The sun was shining brightly by the time she deigned to make her way back home, the streets and marketplaces coming alive as she strolled away from the half-destroyed training ground she'd left in her wake. It had felt good to work off some of the sheer annoyance which'd been simmering under her skin ever since her precious sisters had been taken – stolen away on Orochimaru's orders for an hour or two at most, but that didn't eliminate the fact it had still happened. She needed to be able to protect them, especially since their mother wouldn't be able to defend them from threats like that... not to mention their father was out of the picture. They were on their own. Her family was all she had. Sweat rolled down from her forehead, arm wiping away at it, uncaring as she left streaks of dirt across her alabaster skin. Sometimes she really hated her newfound paleness. The sensitivity of her skin to sunlight was new. Sure, before she'd had relatively pale skin, but she'd tanned before, nowadays she just burnt. It wasn't even close to summertime and she was already dreading it. Groaning, she navigated her way through the back alleys, unafraid of the shadows as she hurried home. They were the same streets she always walked, but the hairs on the back of her neck were raised, and they'd been that way ever since she'd bumped into the strange pink-haired man.

Dirt scuffed under her sandals, a loud sigh escaping her lips as her body instinctively took her the long route home, ducking into a building that wasn't home, a quick chain of shunshin between various houses and abandoned buildings before she finally reached the backdoor to where they stayed. It never hurt to be overly wary, especially with her instincts twitching the way they were. Better safe than sorry. Cautiously, she pushed open the heavy door, hurrying soundlessly up the stairs, blinking as she ran smack bang into Tomoe.

"Sakura-chan... where'd you come from?" she asked, bending down to greet her. "Your kaa-chan is looking for you... she's in a right tizzy. Come on... Let's get you upstairs."

Blinking, Sakura stared around the stairwell from her new vantage point, small arms wrapped around Tomoe's neck. Sometimes she hated being a temporary midgit. Her footsteps were loud against the staircase, unlike Sakura's silent ones, floorboards creaking as her self-appointed aunt carried her up.

"Was just exercising, oba-san," she said, voice muffled by the collar of Tomoe's robe.

"I heard about that." A finger prodded at her cheek. "Someone told me little missy here wants to be a shinobi... and if my guess is correct, then it seems you'll be taking after your tou-san in more than just looks."

Sakura blinked. "Who'd you think he is?" she asked, staring up into Tomoe's dark eyes. "Kaa-chan never talks about it..."

"Let's see..." She tilted her head, staring off into the distance as they paused, halfway up to the attic rooms. "Nearly six years ago... well... your kaa-chan snuck out into the garden a bit... though I always heard her talking with someone. They seemed to get along fairly well, but he didn't drop by too regularly... in fact, he hasn't been around ever since your youngest siblings were born... something about not wanting to get too attached..."

Sakura pouted. "That doesn't give me any clues as to who it was."

"Misa!" Tomoe called, barging into their living room, cutting off the conversation right then and there. "Look who I found on the stairwell."

"Sakura..." Her mother was at her side in an instant. "Sweetheart, don't scare me like that again, OK?" she whispered, pulling her into a hug, taking her from Tomoe in the blink of an eye. "You ran off last night... right before I had to work too, so I couldn't look for you."

"I'm fine, kaa-chan," she grumbled, folding her arms, ignoring the warmth curling in the pit of her stomach as well as the faint blush on her cheeks. She liked being hugged, not that she'd tell anyone that. "I'm gonna be a shinobi so I gotta be strong."