Chapter Text
Year 67 AKF, 10 April
Sakura tuned back into the world as she picked at her dinner. Her mom and dad were sharing their days with a good deal of back and forth, her mom sniffing out secrets like she was made for it until finally, her mom looked at her.
"Now, what's wrong with you, dove, you've barely touched your food." Mebuki probed. "And don't tell me it's nothing, I know it's not."
Sakura chewed on her lip, a habit she was trying, and failing, to break. Her mom was right, after all. And the best way to get help on this was to ask her mother, who knew shinobi better than her four year old daughter. With that in mind, she nodded to herself and turned to her mother.
"What would you do if your teacher bet on your failure?"
Her father, who'd been taking a drink of water, choked and started coughing. Her mother thumped him twice on the back as she considered her daughters words.
"Elaborate?" Mebuki asked her, after making sure her husband wouldn't die from asphyxiation.
Sakura, after taking a moment to make sure her mother wasn't mad, did so. "I passed by the teachers lounge and I heard them taking bets on which student would fail and Hirabayashi-sensei bet on me and then someone else said something about sabotage and I left when they all started laughing."
"It could have been a joke." Kizashi questioned.
Pink hair whipped her face as she shook her head. "I don't think it was."
"Well," said Mebuki. "I suppose the best way to be sure is to gather evidence. I'll show you a couple of things after dinner, darling."
Nodding, Sakura focused on dinner.
"This," said Mebuki, holding a this black rectangular stick. When Sakura looks closer, she sees three buttons and a light on the side of it and a latch on the other side. "is a recorder. It's a civilian tool, and many shinobi dismiss it because of this. You press this button," she points to the red button, "to start recording. Press it again to stop the recording. Press this button," she points to the button with two triangles pointing right, "to go forward in a recording and this one," she points to the last button, with two triangles pointing left, "to go back in a recording. The recorder does as you would expect, it records sounds." Mebuki opens the latch and takes out a smaller rectangular stick, handing it to Sakura. "That is an RHS tape, where the recordings go, they can hold one hour and thirty minutes of recording before you have to change them out."
Sakura cradles the RHS tape in her hands, turning it every which way before she looks back to to her mother. "So if I hear my teachers talking about this again, I can record it with this and have evidence."
"That's right." Mebuki nods, reaching over to her side table and picking up three more RHS tapes. "I'll be giving these to you and I'll show you how to remove recordings from them later."
Sakura nods as Mebuki takes the RHS tape from Sakura and sets it back in the recorder, before setting it down on the table. She picks up another item. A camera, Sakura remembers, having had her picture taken more times than she could count. Mebuki, remembering this also, sets it back down.
"I don't suppose I have to tell you how that works." The blonde woman sniffs, a blush coloring her cheeks. "I'll be giving this one to you, use it wisely."
Sakura nods again and then straightens up as her mother looks at her dead in the face. Her mother doesn't like looking people in the face, she feels people see things more easily if you do, Sakura has been practicing both of her parents looks for as long as she could remember. But when Mebuki does look at people straight on, it means she's serious. Exceedingly so.
"This also means," said Mebuki. "that we need to begin upping your training."
Sakura groans as her father sets her in the bath. It's hot, but it already soothes her aching muscles. Her mother had already promised to give her a massage until her body got used to the new routine. Mama was having her learn the family disciplines, Tai Chi, Mianquan, and Duanquan. Only the basics for now, the ones Papa took part in every morning, which she would now be joining, but she would also have chakra training every evening to 'make certain (she's) not caught'.
As much as she'll complain, and she will, there's no doubt about that, she's happy her parents care enough to do this all for her. She knows that others aren't so lucky.