Twiceborn: Second Bloom | Alternate

Chapter Sixteen: Academy Beginnings

Her sharingan faded, the eight-digit number burned into her brain before she slipped the piece of paper back into her mother's diary. It was the only clue she had as to their mother's past – not even words to say what the number was. Just eight digits which could mean anything. Was it a code of some sort to a super-secret vault? A password to a computer or an important locked file? The list of all possible things it could be was far too long, and Sakura didn't have the faintest idea where to start. She didn't have the time nor the energy to look into it just yet, so she was happy with simply memorising it with her fancy red eyes. They were coming in handy for a lot of things, not that she could use them half the time. She still needed to scout out the Uchiha-Konoha relationship, and it was likely the academy would be the best place for her to start. There was only so much she could learn from the streets of the red light district.

"Sakura-nee..." Mio padded out of the bedroom, biting her lip as she took a seat next to her at the low dining table. "I'm scared." Her hand fisted in her pyjamas, snuggling up as close to her sibling as possible. "What happens if I fail? I wanna stay with you and Aki... but—"

Sakura pressed a finger to her lips. "If you fail, you can always try again next year," she said, ruffling her sister's hair, sighing quietly in relief as Mio relaxed in her embrace. "But I doubt you'll fail... you're smart Mio... 'sides, there's no use in worrying about it now. You've done what you can, so the best thing you can do is get a good nights sleep before the big day." Sakura smiled, sipping from her hot chocolate. "Want me to make you some hot chocolate too?"

Mio shook her head from where it burrowed into her side. "Nah. Tomoe-oba said too much sugar before bed is bad."

"Yeah," she mumbled, wrapping an arm around her sister's back. "It probably is..."

"Love you, nee-san," Mio whispered, pulling away all of a sudden, hurrying back into their room, leaving Sakura all alone again in the midst of the living room. Probably a good thing too.

Her shoulders slumped, her throat itching even as she coughed, muffling the sounds in her hands as best she could. Her sisters, barring Mio, were likely fast asleep and she didn't need to wake them. She didn't want Mio hurrying back out to see what was wrong either. Slipping into the bathroom, she scowled, gritting her teeth at the small glob of liquid she could feel on her hand. It was a dark red in the harsh bathroom light, staring up at her mockingly as she slammed her hands down on the sink. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it'd vanish overnight. Maybe it wasn't a big deal. Tears pricked at her eyes. Who was she kidding? "Damn you, Obito," she muttered, her hand curling into a fist, slamming weakly against the tacky bathroom mirror. "Why'd you make me an Uchiha?" she whispered, staring at her watery reflection. "Why'd you put me in this body? Why, dammit?"

She was coughing up blood – fortunately only small amounts at the current moment in time – but with her medical knowledge she knew it'd only be a matter of time until she was coughing up mouthfuls rather than a few droplets. And despite being registered with the civilian sector, they had no health insurance, they weren't shinobi, they didn't even have shinobi parents, and they had barely any spare money to their name. There was a problem with her lungs, an internal problem, which would require at least one operation and some sort of medication. She'd never be able to treat herself from home and she'd never get near the hospital. As she was now, she'd never be able to foot the bill. Even if she became an academy student she wouldn't be able to go in for a major operation, even with the health care bonus that came along with being a shinobi-in-training. They'd be more likely to kick her out of the academy and send her home. The Founders wouldn't want to send out shinobi with health problems when there were perfectly capable healthy ones with less risk of dying in the field. Shinobi with bad lungs were no good, unless they were Hayate Gekko. He'd had support from his reasonably well-off family too. His shinobi parents. She didn't have that.