When the both of us return from our chores, the chickens fed, eggs collected, goats brushed and milked and the pails stored in the shed. We come back home to a simple breakfast of tamagoyaki (from the eggs that we didn't eat yesterday), miso soup that tastes more like water than miso and rice. With a fresh glass of milk.

Kaika has already left without so much of a word to me, to Hatsuga or Mother. I didn't get my morning kiss too. I've never seen Kaika this upset before.

A lot of firsts the past few days but we're finally on our way to post our letters! I hope Shibomu and Kizashi have enough time to read them and respond back to me and Mother!

I really want to hear more stories from them so I can prepare myself for my time in the Academy. It's going to be awesome, I'm going to make as many friends as possible (not forgetting Hisao and Daiki of course), and I'm going to learn all the jutsu, and I'm going to work my as- Oops, butt. I meant butt. I'm going to work my butt off to graduate and get my hitai-ate (that's what it's called right? The metal-plate thing that all ninja wear?) and imgoingtobethebestninjaeve-

"Okay," Mother waves the envelopes in the air like a fan of cards, snapping me out of my daydream. Moe kinda is just hanging on the front of Mother's obi, secured with a long swathe of cloth and an arm under her legs. We've already arrived at the Post Office? Oops, I got too caught up with my thoughts, "Are there any more letters we want to send to Shibomu and Kizashi before these go into a parcel?"

I think she has Hatsuga in mind since she's staring at him with expecting eyes and nodding her head slowly at him.

Hatsuga has both his arms crossed against his body, eyes looking anywhere but her in the post office. He taps his zori against the wooden floor and looks at the ends of the ends of his fingers as if he didn't hear what Mother is saying (hah, who's deaf now?).

"Hatsuga," She says to him with a meaningful look, a gentle smile on her lips, "Do you have anything you want to send to your brothers? It will be a while before the next postman comes to collect our letters back to Konoha, so if you have anything you want to send. Now's the time."

Hatsuga frowns, tucking his hands deeper into his armpits and quickening the pace of his foot tapping before throwing his arms up in exasperation. A sheepish expression forms on his face as he's a little reluctant to pull out two crumpled letters from inside of his kimono. He shoves both of them into Mother's hands, not meeting her gaze. His cheeks looking quite red, just like his hair, "Here. My letters to nii-san one and nii-san two."

Mother giggles, sending a knowing smile his way. She ruffles his hair and bends her body down to his eye-level, "Good boy. I'm sure your brothers will be pleased to receive a letter from you, Hatsu-chan. Thank you for writing to them."

Hatsuga furrows his eyebrows, the red still on his cheeks. "It's nothing, they should know that they have family who wants a response- And don't call me that, Kaa-san."

"Hee hee." I curve my eyes at him, slowly bringing my fingers up to my face to hide my smile. I open my mouth to proceed with the teasin-

"Don't, Toru. I know what you're going to say," He holds up his flat palm towards my face, "Stop it."

Mother dusts the bottom of her kimono with a sweep of her arm, bundling Hatsuga's letters together with mine and hers and heads towards the counter where the Post Office Man is doing his job. The building is big, dark brown wood planks for flooring and wood that's a little bit lighter for walls. The top half has a more stone-y look and feel. Behind the counter is a ton of drawers that probably have all sorts of envelopes (letter coverings, why can't they call it letter coverings?) in them.

I can hear their conversation from where I'm standing, which isn't that far away. Hatsuga just looks like he's been forced to eat green bell-peppers as he leans his back against the wall, waiting for Mother to finish up.

"Hey, Hatsuga-nii?" I say, fiddling with the sleeves of my kimono, which is loose on my body. One of Kizashi's hand-me-downs. I don't mind wearing his old stuff, new clothes are a little expensive for us. My eyes still staying on both Mother and Post Office Man, "When did you write those letters?"

"Could I send this as a package to Konoha please? Addressed to a Haruno Kizashi and Haruno Shibomu?" She hands the bundle of letters to the Post Office Man.

"Hah? Are you going to make fun of me for writing to them even though I said I didn't want to-" Hatsuga says, sounding more upset by the second.

Post Office Man receives it with both hands, a polite smile on his face, "Sure, Haruno-san. You've been sending letters almost every week now. You're basically my best customer in this village! And as you know, business gets a little slow. Not many people know how to read and write over here, y'know?"

"No, I mean," I let my words trail off as I try my best to listen into their conversation, "Umm, uh. I didn't see you writing, or at least, you don't seem interested in writing any letters to them. Our brothers."

"Ahaha," Mother lets out a nervous laugh, touching her face right underneath her ear. Then moving her eyes down to the name-tag on his chest before tilting her head to the side, "Well, Yuu-san. Are you sure you haven't gotten any packages or letters addressed to me or my family? It's been a while since the last one-"

"Oh," I see him scratching the back of his neck from the corner of my eye. I'm straining my ears as hard as I can to pick up the distant words and sounds, trying my best to piece them together into coherent sentences, "They. They deserve to know that they still have family- us, waiting for them to respond back, and not worry our parents so much." He looks down at his feet that barely grazes the ground when he sits on it.

"Don't worry Haruno-san. I'll make sure to inform you personally when the next Post Man arrives with the mail of course. I'm sorry about our service, there's a lot of bandits roaming around because of the war-" The Post Office Man presses his hands to his mouth as he glances at me.

I look away and pretend like I can't hear them, swinging my legs at the edge of the wooden benches at the reception area and focusing my attention towards Hatsuga, who is now starting to catch on. Giving me a short glance, back at Mother, then back to me.

"Ah. It's not proper for me to say this but you understand what I'm trying to say, Haruno-san?" He gives Mother his most professional smile.

"Toru," He looks at me with round eyes, "Can you actually hear what Kaa-san is saying to that man? I can't hear anything at all."

Mother falters, "Y-yes. I understand. Thank you very much for the services that you and your company provide to this village." She places the money on the small plastic tray that lays on the counter for payment.

"I," My throat starts becoming tight, "Yeah. I can hear her. You really can't?"

He pushes it the tray back at her, "It's service, on the house. Haruno-san. For our untimely service. We'll definitely make sure your package gets to your sons in time."

Hatsuga shakes his head then folding his hands neatly into his lap, his words ringing in my head, "No."

I see Mother's shoulders lower just by a fraction before they tense up again. She smiles and picks up the money, slipping into her drawstring purse hanging by the sides of her obi. Mother gives the Post Office Man a small bow of her head before gesturing to me and Hatsuga to follow her out of the Post Office.

"Coming, Kaa-chan." I say, sliding off the edge of the bench and taking Hatsuga's hand in mine, "Let's go."

Hatsuga doesn't pull away from me. The wrinkle in his forehead seems to be permanent as the both of us walk towards Mother. She gives Moe a pinch on the cheeks and coos affectionately at her, "You're so good today, Moe-chan. You didn't cry for Kaa-san at all. Don't worry we'll take you to the doctor and we'll get some medicine so you'll get all better, won't you?"

"So what did he say? The Post Office Man?" I blink up at her, trying to find out if my ears did indeed get all of that accurately, "Did we get any letters from Shibomu-nii and Kizashi-nii?"

Mother freezes as she adjusts Moe's position in her front, so that she doesn't slide down or get loose. She curls a strand of her hair behind her ear, "Well. No. But we've posted our letters and it was on the house. We have a little bit of money for Moe-chan's visit for the doctor." Her expression eases into a smile, "At least for that. We probably can pay for the medicine that we need if we can sell the milk for more."

Hatsuga pats the front of his chest, tilting his chin up in a confident pose, "Don't worry Kaa-san, I got this covered. Toru and I will handle selling the milk. We have Toru-chan's cute face after all." He grabs my cheeks in his palms and starts squeezing.

I let out a horrified gasp but it comes out all muffled like from my face being squished like a soft pillow, "Hatsuga-nii!"

"Heeh," Mother's face is full of parental affection, her smile being the prime evidence, "Hatsuga, you're becoming a very reliable older brother. Aren't you?"

Hatsuga puffs out his chest, running a finger underneath his nose, "Watch me, Kaa-san, I'm going to make you proud."

"I'm going to take Moe-chan to the doctor's to get an appointment first, I'll meet you boys outside after?" The stiffness in Mother's shoulders have gone away a little, they don't look so tense anymore.

Moe grabs onto Mother's fingers.

Hatsuga gives Mother a thumbs up and an equally enthusiastic toothy grin.

I let out another horrified gasp.