“Welcome home!”
Sachiko blinked at the response, not recognizing the voice coming from further in the house as her mother’s. Looking over her shoulder towards Naruko, the onyx eyed girl raised an eyebrow and nodded her head towards the blonde.
Naruko silently asked a question, pointing a finger at herself in surprise, getting a nod from the Uchiha in response. Realizing what that meant, her blue eyes slowly widened in surprise.
Letting out a small sigh, Sakura gave the stilled blonde a nudge, getting her to move further into the house.
Moving a little further into the house, the three Genin stopped as they noticed some photographs on the wall. One was of Sachiko and her mother seated in seiza, wearing the traditional Uchiha clothing. Another nearby was of a widely grinning Naruko with an equally radiantly smiling redheaded woman, with Naruko’s mother holding her daughter close with an arm around the shoulders.
Hearing movement from the end of the entrance hall, they turned and saw that very same redheaded woman standing there with a smile on her face. She was wearing a knee length, sage green skirt and a white collared blouse, a small hair clip parting her long red hair out of her face.
“Hi, girls! Enjoying your day off?” She asked pleasantly as she walked forward to rustle Naruko’s hair in a familiar gesture. “Staying out of trouble or at least not getting caught?” She asked her daughter with a smirk.
Feeling a well of emotion flowing through her, Naruko found herself nodding with a growing smile. Going with a gut instinct, the blonde wrapped an arm around the woman’s back and was rewarded as her mother slid her own arm into an easy hug around her shoulder, like in the picture.
“So, what brings you girls back so early?” Kushina asked with a quirk of her brow. “I thought you were planning to stay out all day in the village.”
“We changed our minds.” Sachiko easily explained away their ‘change in plans’, noting that it was only early afternoon. “We decided to relax here for a bit.” Trying to play it off as an afterthought, she then asked, “Do you know where my mother is?”
“Mikoto? She’s out shopping for dinner but she should be back soon. Is something wrong?” The Uzumaki mother asked with mild concern.
Sachiko waved it off. “No. I just wanted to talk to her. It can wait.” She figured she could wait a little more, considering it had been six years already for her.
“Alright then.” Kushina returned with a small nod before separating from her daughter. “I’ll leave you girls alone so you can talk or whatever.” Leaning down slightly, she pushed up her daughter’s hitai-ate and kissed Naruko on the forehead. “And you be good. Okay?”
“Right… Mom.” Naruko choked out, eyes misting over slightly.
Scrunching her brow in concern, the blonde’s mother asked, “Are you sure everything’s alright?”
“Yeah!” Naruko replied happily, with a growing, bright smile. “It’s just really good to see you!”
“Uh-huh.” The mother responded with a quirked brow, now suspecting that her daughter had pranked someone and was trying to butter her up before the fallout inevitably happened. “Well, I’ll let you girls get going. I’ll bring up some sliced fruit in a bit for a snack.” With that, she wandered towards the kitchen, leaving the girls by themselves.
(Posted Wed, 17 Sep 2014 20:32)
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