An eon or two later, they finally arrived, Sakura leading them past the shop front with just a wave for her father at the counter, then up the stairs to the living area. "MOOOOM!" she called, as they took their sandals off in the genkan. "I HAVE TO ASK YOU SOME STUFF FOR A MISSION!"
"I'm in the kitchen!" The reply came with a drift of spicy, delicious pastry-smells, and the sounds of baking pans being moved about. Sakura nodded and waved her team mates forward, heading down the short hall and in through an open sliding door.
Naruto and Hinata both stopped dead as they stepped through, mirrored pictures of shock on their faces as they saw Sakura's mother for the first time - toned and slender, despite having her hair up in a bun and hair-net and the flour-rimed apron around her waist she looked hardly older than they were. Mischievous golden eyes sparkled with humor over a toothy grin as she enjoyed the effect she had on them, even as she pulled off her oven mitts and folded a quilt that had been warming the loaves just put in the oven while they rose. "What's this about a mission, then?" she asked.
"Ah-um well..." Sakura was feeling REALLY foolish now - she should have done this on her own instead of bringing the others to see her mom laugh at her gullibility! Too late to think of that now, though. "You, that is... You said you were a space alien, right? Because it's just that we need to get to the moon and don't know how but if you were really a space alien then you'd know andnowIlookTOTALLYstupid..."
"Ah, the moon," her mom repeated, tapping one finger against her chin and looking contemplative, while Sakura tried to sink into the floor without the use of ninjutsu. "Moon, ne? No problem!" the elder Haruno announced.
"N... No problem?" her daughter repeated, numbly, as if not quite believing her ears.
"Nope!" The young ninja could practically hear the little cutesy heart drawn as punctuation, as her mother continued, "There's plenty of fuel in my scooter for the moon and back!"
"The moon... and back?" Sakura repeated again.
"Well, you weren't planning on staying there, were you?" her mom asked. "It's a really boring place, you know."
"Ehehehe... boring..." Clearly, Sakura needed a bit more time to adjust to the idea that yes, she really was half space-alien.
Checking the timer on the oven, Haruko took off the apron and washed the flour off her hands. "This way, kids," she commanded, leading the dumbstruck genin back out to the hall, and toward the back of the building. She paused on he way to brush a bit of dust off an oddly shaped solid-body guitar hanging on the wall, admonishing Sakura, "I still want you to use the family style someday soon, dear, whether the Sound-nin are enemies or not," before continuing out onto a balcony.
(Posted Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:48)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.