heritage

Chapter Twenty: Pardon

 "... recognition will bring them both absolution."

          Its's the first time that she can recognise the location of the scene. There's no way she wouldn't---not when the shadows darken to reveal the familiar shape of Konohagakure's western gates. Although, Sakura notes, some of the pillars are different. And the paint is brighter. Newer. Evidence that these are not quite the old, weathered gates she knows. They are younger here. A glimpse back in time.

Different, too, is the plethora of shinobi both guarding the gate and milling about atop the walls. Many wear armor Sakura is not used to observing. The way they walk also varies from current Konoha shinobi. More measured, and especially more precise. They move like they cannot afford a single misstep. As if the village is experiencing a time of war. Which, if Sakura recalls correctly, it is. At least, in this memory.

Despite that knowledge, this is the happiest 'page' she has seen yet.

"Obito-kun." The familiar, measured voice of her mother breaks the indistinct sounds of the hustle and bustle of the gate, drawing Sakura focus back the what is in the foreground. Her mother stands at an angle, Obito opposite to her. While Sakura can see Obito's face, she cannot see her mother's. It weighs on her. Even if this is a test it feels as if she has been robbed.

Her mother wears a komon [1] she almost doesn't recognise. The main body of it is a muted green, the hem and sash made from a fabric with a much softer tone. Sakura has never seen her mother wear it before this memory. No, if she thinks about it, she has only ever seen it hung up deep in the back of her mother's closet. It was one of the only things her mother never let her ask about. The one time she did, she had been a child. The fragile and teary expression on her mother's face lead her to never ask again.

But here, in this scene where she cannot even see her own mother's face, she is wearing it.

"Mebuki-san!" Obito returns the greeting with a jaunty wave, stepping forward and pulling Sakura's mother into a tight hug. She returns it willingly. When Mebuki steps back from the embrace, she lingers long enough to tuck a looke lock of hair behind Obito's ear. The action is almost... motherly. Sakura can feel her heartbeat increasing from the shock.

"Tch." Her mother clicks her tongue as she moves her hand from Obito's ear to his goggles, pushing them further up his head. "I thought you said you were prepared?" Despite the nature of the question, Mebuki's voice is more than indulgent. She sounds like she is giving a younger Sakura a bit of a light scolding; like a mother seeing off her child before a mission. A mother. Sakura knows she will not be born until years after this memory.

She has to make a careful exhale at the thought. If she doesn't, she's not quite sure she will maintain an even breathing cycle, much less focus on the 'page' playing out before her. Her thoughts are once more distracted by Obito replying with gusto.

"I am!" Obito protests, his expression indignant despite the way he leans into Mebuki's palm. "I went over the list we made twice and everything."

"Then why haven't you clipped your hair back?" Mebuki pinches his cheek with a frown. Obito pouts and raises his arm to rub at it. It flops uselessly at his side when Mebuki does so herself. "You know that even a slight distraction could cost you in the battlefield."

"It doesn't look cool." Obito mumbled under his breath as he looks away in embarrassment.

"Mumbling is not becoming of you, Obito-kun." Mebuki reprimands, the only sign that she definitely heard what he said being the intentional raising of a single brow. Sakura can't help but wince. Doing so almost makes her miss the way Obito does the same, as if he is familiar enough with her mother to expect a more thorough scolding after a comment like that. Perhaps he does.