↷┆𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗸𝗶┆Sakura Haruno

I.

The walk towards her house after a mission would usually be spent by reminiscing about how Sasuke-kun did that, how Sasuke-kun frowned in complete focus, how his handsome face remained expressionless when he walked.

Today shouldn't have been any different, it really shouldn't have been.

But she couldn't help it, couldn't stop her mind from replaying their last mission. The horrible flashbacks playing in her head like a broken record.

How the day had started with a 'rescue tora mission', to Naruto throwing a tantrum for a real mission.

Real mission, he said, 'i wanna go on a real mission 'dattebayo!, something challenging and exciting,' he said, we're genin but who cares, we don't know a single thing about the hardships of a real mission but who the fuck cares,he said.

When he first started shouting a whining, she was sure Naruto was gonna get a scolding or even a punishment of some sort, but who knew the sandaime had a soft spot for obnoxious, loud, probably brainless brats.

She certainly didn't.

But to think things would take a trip to hell, now that was new. She recalled all the things she had done.

Or the lack thereof.

She felt useless standing there with a kunai in hand. Some part of her was saying that she was only following what Kakashi-sensei had told us, which only she listened to.

But that voice was dismissed before she even thought about it. She did absolutely nothing, no words could change that. She was a Ninja for Kami's sake. Ninjas aren't supposed to stand there and do nothing. At first she was sure the only reason she even attended the academy was because Sasuke-kun, not because she wanted to be a ninja, no totally not. She thought the only reason she scored high in school was because she wanted Sasuke-kun's attention, not because she genuinely liked learning or because she wanted to prove to Ino that she wasn't her inferior but someone of her own level, no she didn't care.

But those thoughts also didn't make sense after she felt sad and disappointed when her parents had told her to leave the academy, didn't like her being their, didn't want her to be a shinobi, a powerful kunoichi. She had felt angry, at her parents to think like that, at herself for bursting out in tears.

She came to realize that very day, that she wanted to become a strong Kunoichi, an actual ninja who did something, not some knock off only interested in her teammate.

She remembered wanting to be a ninja since a young age, even before she had met Sasuke-kun. Growing up, she would spend most of her free time reading all sorts of books. At first they were just storybooks, fantasy wonderlands and what not. Then came other genres; horror, humor, mystery,love. If she was speaking for herself her favorite had to be mystery. The excitement and thrill she'd feel when she thought about why they did, and how they did, coming up with scenarios and theories, spending hours on them, was nothing short of a guilty pleasure.

But for the sake of her mother she always said Love, that those unrealistic love stories where her favorite, those perfect kisses where the best, 'cause girls weren't supposed to find wierd murder cases interesting.

Then she had upgraded to books on Chakra, different types of jutsus, genjutsu, ninjutsu there was no end to them. It had come to one point where 10 year old Sakura had read every book in the library she had found interesting. The 'ninja only' section calling out to her like some creepy guy in the shadows. She remembered the main desk lady saying that she'd have to become a ninja in order to read those books.