You woke up to the sound of the birds chirping. This must’ve been the only day you woke up so peacefully ever since you came to Konoha. You attributed this to the fact that you didn’t have to rush to prepare for the Academy. But that doesn’t mean it was a perfect morning.

It could’ve been a perfect morning, really, except you could feel your muscles aching even with just a little movement. It was entirely your fault though. You may have subjected your body to an intense workout late last night.

You grunted as you rose from your bed. You didn’t have any plans until after lunch so you debated on whether you should just stay in bed until then or walk around the village again. If your body had a mind of its own, it would’ve chosen the former option. But quite frankly, you weren’t used to getting up late and staying in bed.

Your father raised you to be up early. “The key to success in life is getting up early,” he’d say, although you always thought he just read that somewhere. But he ingrained it to you at such an early age that you couldn’t really get the routine out of your system anymore.

You got out of bed and headed into the kitchen for breakfast. When you heard the sound of something being fried, you almost ran to get there, thinking it was your father preparing breakfast. He used to be the one in the family who cooked breakfast while your mother was the one who’d prepare dinner. 

As you reached the door frame, you realized that your father wasn’t there anymore. He wouldn’t be there anymore. You felt your shoulder sag at the thought.

You quickly put on a smile though, just as your mother turned around to greet you. “How are you feeling, darling?” She asked while she placed the food she prepared onto a plate.

“I’m fully healed from the injuries, if that’s what you’re asking,” you grinned as you pushed your thoughts about your father to the back of your mind, “but I may or may not have aching muscles because of some physical exercise I did last night.” You sheepishly said.

She tsked. “You should really set some limits for yourself.”

You opened your mouth to rebut but she beat you to it, “And no, training or working out until your body gives up is not the limit I’m referring to.”

You sighed and then remained silent. If you told her you don’t plan on wasting your time slacking off, you know she’d give you an earful of scolding, probably about “Resting is not slacking off” or something in the lines of “You’re rushing too much.”

You knew she was right, but you couldn’t help but feel like there’s a ticking clock looming over your head, like there’s only so much time before the Akatsuki makes their move or worse, the serial killer who killed your father kills another innocent life. You just couldn’t let these thoughts go and it haunts you every time.

“So what are your plans for today?” Your mother asked, oblivious to the thoughts plaguing your mind.

“I’ll be training with Kurenai sensei and her team later after lunch. What about you?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “maybe I’d drop by Tsunade to help her or something. That woman’s really lazy, I bet she’s swamped with work.”

“I feel like you’re the only one who could get away with saying things like that about the Hokage,” you chuckled.

She snorted, “I could name a few other people.” She watched you as you took a bite out of your food. She then rested her chin by her hand. “So, is Kurenai going to teach you genjutsu?”

You looked up from your meal and gazed at your mother. “She knows genjutsu?” You excitedly asked.

She smiled at your reaction, “Yes. I heard she’s become Konoha’s number one genjutsu user.”

“That’s great! I’ll try asking her to teach me then. I don't really know what Kurenai sensei has planned but I'm assuming it has something to do with improving our sensory skills and some fighting techniques.”

Your mother just hummed in response. She wouldn’t tell you this, but she was glad you were opening up and making friends. She was worried that you’d push away people ever since she saw you ready to attack Kakashi when he tried approaching you for the first time. Although she did know it was partially her fault for teaching you not to trust someone easily. But she was just grateful that you complied with her request easily when she told you that it was okay to trust people in Konoha. You were always obedient like that, always following your parents’ pleas as long as they’re reasonable. Besides that, your mother was grateful for your rationality and maturity, it meant there were less things to worry about when it came to you. If you grew up the opposite of who you are right now, she doesn’t think she’d have the capacity to handle you by herself.

Both you and your mother finished breakfast making small talk. You offered to wash the dishes while your mother started to get ready to go to Lady Tsunade. When she was out the door, you had already resigned to your bedroom.

The atmosphere was silent. And you couldn’t stop your thoughts from flooding your mind, all about your father — memories with him, the what ifs, the what could’ve beens. You could tell your thoughts were going to dangerous territory fast. But you still don’t know how to deal with the emotions that come with those thoughts.

So instead of lying in bed and letting your thoughts consume you, you headed to the shower and then got out of the house after you finished dressing up. It was better for you to have something else to do in order to redirect your mind from the path of negativity.

Were you running away from your problem? Maybe. Will you stop doing it anytime soon? No, not really.

When you got out of the house, you really didn’t know where you’d want to go but when you started to feel the aching of your muscles replacing the aching on your chest, you decided to head to the Hospital. Not to ask for assistance, rather to offer assistance.

Just as you were about to ask the nurse in the Information section about the whereabouts of Sakura, a voice had called upon you.

“Y/N! What are you doing here? Do you need to get checked up on your injuries?” Sakura asked.

“Oh no. I was just looking for you. I was wondering if there’s anything I could help you with,” you said. You looked around the hospital, noticing the lack of patients, “...but I guess there’s nothing here to do. The day must be slow and quiet, huh?”

As you uttered the last sentence, Sakura’s eyes widened in horror.

“What? Why? Did I say something wrong?” You immediately asked, worried that you might’ve offended her without meaning to.

Before Sakura could answer, a shinobi burst through the doors carrying what seemed to be injured civilians. “Fire on the residential area of civilians!” The ninja shouted as he entered the Hospital with two elderly civilians with first degree burns. Nothing life threatening, but medical care was free and accessible so there was no reason to turn them away.

“It’s forbidden to say the q-word… This is why,” Sakura said as