As the light of day begins to fade, the group finally winds down their training. Exhausted but satisfied, Sakura hugs her new friends goodbye and begins the trek back into town to her home.

{Wow, that was a lot, but it was so fun! It's really nice training with friends!}

{Yeah, friends are so great. Proud of you two for being brave and making friends.}

Sakura smiles. She's proud of them too.

When they walk in the door of Sakura's small house, her mom is sitting at the table reading through some papers.

She looks up and smiles when she sees Sakura, but—likely noticing her daughter's visible exhaustion—doesn't initiate conversation, instead simply raising a hand in greeting before letting her daughter move on to her room.

The moment they enter their bedroom, Sakura flops down on the bed.

{Okay, today has been great, but I—} her thought-speech is interrupted by a yawn {—should go to sleep now.}

She begins sluggishly removing her clothes, exhaustion keeping her from even feeling self-conscious of the observer in her head.

{Um.}

Sakura can probably feel Sable's regret for getting in the way of sleep, but she's got to.

{We really should talk about a few things first. We're three girls sharing one body, at this point. At minimum, you two need to decide how you're sharing front time, and whether you want a way to refer to each other more specifically. And I want some kind of guideline on when it is and isn't okay to jump in front like I did today to cover blondie's mouth.}

And maybe they can talk about whether she gets some front time, but that's honestly not nearly a priority compared to making sure things are okay for her girls.

{If you have any questions about this stuff, I'll answer what I can. I've had a few plural friends.}

Crap. Right. They should probably talk about that.

She mentally directs her words to the other Sakura.

{…Okay, yeah. First things first then: I'm Sakura, and you're Sakura… how do we want to differentiate?}

{I think I'm actually less attached to the "Sakura" name. It might be nice to have my own?

…I haven't actually thought about names though.}

She pauses for a moment, lost in thought.

{…Well, I'm more… forceful than you? A bit of a brighter red to your soft pink? So maybe… "Akari"? With the kanji for "crimson" and "majesty".}

Sakura giggles at the brazenness of her headmate's kanji choice, then smiles.

{Heh, I like it! It definitely suits you.}

{Ooh,} Sable replies, delighted and excited. {That's really pretty, and it's got some great punch to it. I love it, Akari. How's it feel to hear?}

She smiles.

{It feels good! I think I like it.}

She plays it through her head a few more times, imagining people referring to her by it and… yeah. {Yeah, this is definitely it.}

{Oh yay!} Sakura squeezes her arms around herself, doing her best impression of hugging Akari.

She's so glad her headmate figured out a name she likes so quickly!
…And also a bit relieved that she doesn't have to change hers. She likes being Sakura.

Sakura lies back, happy to have resolved their first problem so easily.

{Okay, so then… sharing front time.}

She sighs. She likes existing and doing things, and her friends don't know Akari yet, but… at the same time, it feels like it might actually be really nice to get to… exist in the background sometimes? She's never really thought about it before, but it is a bit exhausting to have to be there interacting all the time. Maybe it'd be good to step back and let go a bit more?

…Yeah, screw it. What does Akari want? That's a good place to start.

Akari does actually appreciate not having to interact with everyone all the time. She's way less confident in her ability to manage complex social situations than she'd like, and from her small amount of experience fronting, it seems like it takes a lot of some form of energy she doesn't yet have much of.

It… would be nice if she got to meet their friends and spend time with them and train with them sometimes? But she's pretty alright with not fronting for the majority of the time.

She does the mental equivalent of turning to Sable. Do they need to go more specific than that, or is this much fine for now?

Hmm.

That's pretty decent? The girls should keep in mind that she's never done this before, but the combination of that, a deliberate introduction to Hinata and Blondie at some point, and a commitment to talk to each other if either of them feels neglected? That'll go decently far. 

Sable wouldn't mind fronting ever, but it's not as high a priority for her, and much more of a risk, given she's not from here and doesn't know any of the cultural touchstones. If she dug deep into the girls' minds to use their cultural knowledge, she could probably manage, but she's been avoiding that for invasiveness reasons.

Oh, right, Sable fronting is also a concern!

Sakura doesn't like the idea of Sable drawing on her memories to pretend to be her, and it's right that it probably shouldn't front where the rest of the village might notice, but if they're off on their own with just Hinata and Naruto? It might be good for her to sometimes. Both so it can have some time embodied—which is probably important to it even if she likes being a nebulous ink-creature—and also because it'd be useful and good for her to be able to talk directly to their friends.

Sakura also… doesn't think she minds things like the situation earlier where Sable "stole front" suddenly to keep Naruto from saying something dangerous? It was a bit disorienting, but it helped them all, and she'd rather that have happened than not. If it's important, Sable should feel comfortable jumping into front to help.

Mentally nodding along, Akari chimes in.

{I don't have as much investment in it, since I haven't really fronted as much, but I agree! I'm in a similar situation to Sable with not being as safe fronting around the rest of the village,} —although she does at least have the cultural background of growing up here— {but I think it's good to be able to talk directly to our friends!}

Turning to Sable now, {I don't know how I'll feel about having front stolen from me suddenly, but I agree with Sakura that if it's important, it's worth it for you to be able to jump in and save us. I'd rather you feel comfortable doing that than not.}

{Thanks, girls. I'll keep it to emergencies, but it's good to know I won't be overstepping if I have to do that. Sometimes I just realize things quicker than y'all. And yeah, it would be nice to hang out with Hinata and Blondie once in a while. And if we ever offer for me to bond with them too, I should probably be the one to make the offer. So I guess my spending some time in front is important once in a while.}

She sighs internally, warm affection spilling out from her. {You're both such good girls. Cute and caring and passionate and clever. I'm glad it was you two that found me.}

Akari blushes, Sable's words affecting her strongly.

{I'm glad too. I wouldn't have it any other way.}

Sakura nods in agreement (ignoring whatever that specific feeling was from Akari for now), then yawns.

{Okay, I think we might have more questions later, but for now, are we good to go to sleep?}

Sable maybe notices Akari's blushy feeling.

But they can deal with that later.

{Yeah, girls. We can be done for tonight. Sleep well, darlings.}

And sleep they do—almost immediately—their minds slipping out of consciousness as they drift off into a restful slumber as their mental companion works in the background of their mind, slowly exploring and stretching her chakra system while they sleep.