Chapter 93
After a few seconds we heard the door open and out walked a tall brown haired young lady; Suzume Akari. Behind her was a middle-aged man in a kimono. He looked like a harmless man but I could see it. The way he carried himself, and his vigilance; I could see he was a veteran. Just as I was inspecting him, he was doing same to me. He nodded slightly to me, which I acknowledged with one of my own before he turned away.
"…s Sakura who came to see you." I caught the final part of Sasuke's statement which finally brought me back to the reason I was there. I turned my attention to Akari who's expression suddenly visibly morphed into a major frown.
"Please wait." Just as she turned towards the house, I called out to her. I felt this was going to be problematic. She reluctantly turned back to me; Frown still very visible on her face. "I came to apologize. I may have gone a little overboard, but to be fair you may have touched a sore spot for me. Besides, you have done nothing but glare at me ever since the beginning and I did nothing to you." Her frown suddenly turned to amusement as she chuckled at me with a smirk.
Quite frankly that pissed me off and I was contemplating on whether or not to just leave. "You really don't remember." Hearing her words, I could not help but frown a little. Seeing me frown, she continued, "Of course, how can the great Haruno Sakura remember something she did? Every time I tried to talk to Sasuke back then you would make fun of my height, calling me ugly and a freak, telling me to stay away from 'your' Sasuke; Constantly making me feel insecure about my height."
Things took a weird turn. Something like that never happened in the canon. Sakura was never shown making fun or bullying someone; Except maybe Naruto. She was the one who was shown being bullied because of her forehead. What was happening? Another one of those problems left to me by the original; Thankfully it was not a life and death type of situation. Akari was tall; A whole head and even slightly taller compared to us, but it was not something that should have been used to bully her. In fact, I felt it suited her quite well.
I bowed to her slightly and spoke, "I honestly don't remember, but if I truly did then I am sorry. I may have been a real bitch in the past; You can ask Naruto. Used to pick on him for no reason." Naruto shook his head indicating it was fine. I looked back at Akari and continued, "I don't expect you to forgive me; I know how it feels after all. That was how I ended up with just Ino as my friend. Even that I kind of messed that up." I said the last part to no one in particular. She was slightly surprised to see me bow to her. It seemed to have caught her of-guard, turning her silent.
The silence turned the place slightly awkward, but I could see her frown ease up a little. After a long while, a sigh finally escaped her. "Fine. I guess I should apologize as well." It made me lift my brow a bit. If Sakura did what she said she did, then she really had nothing to apologize about. Seeing my look, she added, "I might have sad some really nasty things about you." She scratched the back of her head slightly awkwardly. It was hard to imagine the girl with the constant cold and stoic face was looking that awkward. I could tell she was a good girl; If it was an act then she definitely fooled me.
"Please. I say nasty things about myself all the time." This earned a light chuckle from her. Just as I was about to speak, four people showed up in front to the house. "Oh my. We have guests? Why haven't you invited them inside yet, Akari? And stand straight." The middle-aged woman amongst them spoke with a slightly stern look. Akari immediately straightened up when saw her mother. The straightened face and sudden poised look screamed suffocating child to me. Maybe I was reading too much into it but my fatherly instincts were already screaming at me.
"Not inviting your guests in shows a lack of manners. We taught you better." The short and slightly heavy middle-aged man added with his stoic expression. "Sorry father" Akari replied with her head slightly down.
Akari's parents were both dressed in high quality kimono and carried themselves with a certain air of nobility. The other two behind them, just like the one the came with Akari earlier looked like ordinary helps; But I could see the expertise about them.
"Good day, Mr. and Mrs Suzume. I am Sakura, Akari's substitute Jounin. Since the chunin exam is about to start I came to get her. We intend to brush up on a few things before the exam begins." Akari looked up slightly shocked but quickly hid it when her parents turned to look at her. I gave her a wink which made her understand where I was going with it. She caught on quick and nodded to her parents. The only one who caught what happened was the one who I assumed was the butler. I saw him standing behind Akari lift his brow slightly with a smirk, of course, also undetected by the Suzumes.
"A jounin?" Her father turned back and gave me a good look over, almost as if he did not believe they made us in this size; The Jounins, that is. "I assure you sir. I am every bit a jounin as Kakashi-senpai." I was not too bothered by his attitude; a twelve-and-a-half-year-old Jounin was rare after all. As for his wife, she kept her usual slight nose in the air type stoic face. You could tell they believed themselves above others; At least that is how I saw them.
"I'm sure. Be back early." He replied to me before speaking to Akari. With that they all walked into the house. The one who came out with Akari earlier mouthed the words 'thank you' before following them into the house.
When the entourage left, we all run from there before the family suddenly decided against us leaving. "Thanks Sakura. I had been dying to get out of the house" A distance away, Akari stretched out in liberation. I chuckled in response. We made our way to the park sending both Naruto and Sasuke on an errand. Although with Sasuke I had to threaten him a little before.
"If you ever want to talk, I'll always be here to listen." As we were waiting for the guys to return, I spoke to Akari. I could understand the suffocating feeling she must be feeling at home. Sometime it was good to talk about it instead of bottling it all up. Akari hugged he knees and nodded in response. She smiled lightly and said thank you into her knees but I still heard it. I smiled at her before disappearing from my position. The chunin exam was happening in exactly in one week. We could not be serious all the time. And I knew exactly how to loosen them up.