Anyone who thinks Uchiha Fugaku is scary has never seen him around his daughter-in-law.

Uchiha Katsumi blinked rapidly, fighting the heaviness of her eyelids as she walked down the street. After several weeks of mission paranoia, she was well in that state of sleep deprivation where everything was foggy and her mind took longer to process every thought. It was if her body had taken her return to Konoha as permission to crash – which, she supposed, was fair enough – except that the marketplace she was walking through was no place to collapse.

Her apartment was only a few blocks away. Katsumi thought there was a reasonably high chance of reaching her bed before her body shut down completely, but another part of her knew that she was very tired and therefore not capable of thinking straight. But there was nothing else she could do except keep walking and thank Kami that her apartment was closer to the gates than her parents' house in the Uchiha compound.

Her relationship with her parents had improved greatly as she'd gotten older, though Katsumi had still chosen to move out once she made jounin. She'd lived within the compound for a few months and found it wasn't quite the independence she wanted, but when she tried to move out, the clan elders had stepped in. For all their fury, her relatively low status within the clan and her parents' approval had allowed for a compromise where Katsumi moved into a nearby apartment with her friend, Yamamoto Kaede. That had lasted a good six months (read: two months of settling in and friendship and slow realisations, one month of pining and awkwardness and three months of domestic bliss) before the elders decided Katsumi's personal relationships had brought dishonour to the Uchiha name and tried to cut her off entirely.

Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on how Katsumi was feeling that day – her parents had refused to disown her, and the domestic bliss continued. She continued to attend clan meetings, speaking her mind freely and enduring the sneers and the whispering and the stares, and sometimes wondered if it would be easier to change her surname to Yamamoto.

It was at this point one of Katsumi's legs gave out beneath her but thank Kami she still had the reflexes to redirect what would have been a nasty fall into an awkward stumble into a man standing nearby. She caught her balance immediately after, cursing herself for not paying attention, but outwardly she bowed. "I'm so sorry!"

The man turned to face her soundlessly as Katsumi straightened, and recognition shot through her, along with a jolt of adrenaline. She felt her expression settle into something cold and wary, and pressed her lips together tightly. "Please forgive me, Uchiha-sama," she said stiffly.

Uchiha Fugaku stared down at her, his expression unreadable. "Uchiha Katsumi," he said, his voice deep and stern.

Katsumi couldn't be sure how much he knew of her situation, nor his views on it, but she did know that he wouldn't appreciate her clumsy, undignified behaviour, especially in front of so many people. Regardless of how he reacted, she vowed to withstand it with a poker face as good as his. She was sure she could handle whatever came next, but the anticipation was making her tense.

"I see you have just returned from a mission," Fugaku said finally.

"Y-yes, Uchiha-sama," Katsumi stammered, caught off-guard by the mundane question. At his expectant look, she continued, "Um…it went well…?"

He nodded, almost… approvingly, if she was reading him right. "That is good to hear," he said, a sort of warm gruffness in his voice. "You must be returning home now, correct?"

"Yes, Uchiha-sama," Katsumi managed, and silently used kai! to cancel any genjutsu that might have been on her. It was one thing to be having a civil conversation with her clan head, but to be making small talk? She couldn't rule out the possibility that her exhaustion had made her delirious.

"Ah, but you live outside the compound now," Fugaku said thoughtfully. "Yes, I remember now."

Frankly, Katsumi didn't want to know what he remembered in case it was something bad, but Kami intervened, and a voice called, "Otou-sama!"

Fugaku looked towards the source of the voice and, to Katsumi's shock, he smiled. A small smile, nothing more than the corners of his lips upturning, but it was a genuine, happy smile. She did another kai! just to be sure – after all, she had only ever see him scowling or frowning or making some expression that showed his displeasure, but it was real – Uchiha Fugaku was smiling.

"Otou-sama!" the voice called again, louder and closer this time. Katsumi could see a woman with pink hair, smiling and waving in their direction, but she was more interested in Fugaku's reaction. As the woman approached, his face softened even more, the furrow between his eyes disappearing as his smile grew.

"Ah, there you are, Sakura," Fugaku greeted. Kami, he was positively beaming as Sakura stood next to him; the warmth and affection his voice was unmistakable. "I trust you found what you wanted?"

"Yep," Sakura said cheerfully, holding up a bag of fruit before she turned to Katsumi. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. My name is Haruno Sakura."

"Uchiha Katsumi," Katsumi said, bowing slightly. She knew her name already, of course. No one could have missed the pink hair and it was impossible not to have heard of Haruno Sakura. Her reputation around Konoha was approaching legendary, although Katsumi had never met her in person until now. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Haruno-sama."

"And you," Sakura said, smiling brightly. "Please, no need to be so formal with me!"

Katsumi gave her a tentative smile. "If you insist." Kami, Sakura was just as beautiful as the rumours said, and she seemed sweet enough – there was no sign of the fiery temper she'd supposedly inherited from the Godaime Hokage.

"I'm sure you've heard of Sakura before," Fugaku said, an oddly challenging undertone to his voice as if he'd read her thoughts. "She was apprenticed to the Hokage herself, and is now set to take over as head of the hospital."

"Yes, her reputation as a medic-nin is well-known," Katsumi agreed, grinning when she saw Sakura's pained expression.

"Indeed," Fugaku said, a more satisfied note to his voice. "The Uchiha are honoured to be welcoming her into the clan. Sakura is also–"

"Otou-sama!" Sakura interrupted hastily, so loudly it was almost a whine before she softened it into gentle disapproval. "There's really no need to tell Katsumi-san my life story, especially when we've just met."

Fugaku had the grace to look…well, Katsumi didn't know if shame was in his repertoire, but in this moment he managed an expression of slight chagrin. "Ah, forgive me, Sakura," he said quietly. "It seems I was caught up in the excitement of gaining a daughter, especially one as wonderful as you."

Katsumi nearly choked and decided it was time for her to leave. "My apologies, but I should return home now. Uchiha-sama, I…" I hope to see you again? It was a pleasure running into you? She trailed off, not sure how to end the conversation without lying. "Er, Sakura-san, it was a pleasure meeting you."

Fugaku simply nodded. "My apologies for delaying your return home," he said, and Katsumi could tell he meant it. As she bowed and said her goodbyes, he added, "Please give my regards to Yamamoto-san."

Katsumi barely avoided tripping over her own feet before she whipped her head around to stare incredulously at Fugaku. His face was back to its impassive demeanour, but she had the sense he was laughing. "I-I will, Uchiha-sama," she managed, and kept walking.

Just before she was out of earshot, Katsumi heard a deep chuckle that could only have come from the Uchiha Clan Head. She walked faster. It was one thing to accept the fact that Uchiha Fugaku was human, but it was another thing entirely to acknowledge that he had a sense of humour.

If this was how Fugaku acted around Haruno Sakura, Katsumi didn't want to know what he would be like when she became Uchiha Sakura.

Originally meant to be part of fairy floss but I think of it more as a sequel to Observations/Revelations. The first draft for this happened one day before an exam. The final draft came while I was taking a break from an assignment. Katsumi is an OC from Revelations and her backstory is the reason why it took me a long time to write.

Thanks for all the love and support, I really appreciate it all ❤

alternate summary

Katsumi: making my way downtown, walking fast

Fugaku: this is my daughter Sakura and she is so talented and beautiful and amazing

Katsumi: walking faster