J A D E

Chapter Two : Meeting Uchiha

"I'm sorry." He whispers in-between the coughing fit. The blood trails down his lips and cheeks, coloring his pale skin.

"Shut up." I whisper through the blurring tears. Naruto chuckles, his eyes frozen on me, while Sasuke coughs once again. His onyx eyes are frozen on me. His words replaying in my head.

"I..." He coughs again, blood spilling out. "Love you, Sakura." He whispers once again. "I always had."

I jolt up in my bed with sweat covering my whole body. Memories of past life, past future, are rushing in my mind, swirling, creating vortex, from here I can barely escape. I look through the window, greeting the lone moon shining down on me. Knowing that I can't go back to sleep anymore, I get up, putting my practice clothes on. I grab my pouch and jump from the window, barely managing to land without harming myself.

I run towards the training grounds, preferring to be able to jump from roof to roof, avoiding unneeded stares from the drunk civilians, walking late in the village.

I fall on my knees as soon as I reach Team 7's usual training spot. It hasn't even changed. There are still three poles at the edge of the forest. Memories, which I thought were long forgotten, swim up inside my head, bringing gentle, yet sad smile upon my lips.

I stand up, my legs quivering from running all the way here. At first, I start with running around the training ground, till my body can take it. But sadly, I manage to fall down only after two circles. With unsatisfied groan, I take a five minute break.

I take my kunais out, standing in front of the targets. I throw them without moving and smile when I hit all of them in the dead centre. I didn't expect anything less, considering the time, I spent in the war. I have learnt how to throw and aim with bleeding, injured hands. And despite the fact, I am not injured now, my little unpracticed and aching hands are worse than bleeding one.

I keep practicing, throwing kunais in different positions, trying to jump as high as possible, or run as fast as possible. After being done with throwing, I am already covered in sweat. A long ago, it would have bothered me, but now, I have learnt how to live with mud and blood caked on me.

I take a sip of water and look up at raising sun. The sky is colored in different shades, from orange to pink to red to yellow. I have missed the feeling of warm sun against my face. I have missed the colors around me, cheerful and pure.

With a long sigh, I get up, starting to train taijutsu. It has always been my stronger side compared to genjutsu or ninjutsu, even though, I, in fact, am genjutsu type. But this life, I decided to pay equal attention to all of them and maybe, I will even interest Kakashi-sensei enough to make him teach me something, anything.

"I am sorry, Sakura-chan." Kakashi mumbles as he looks down at his own blooded hands. He is bleeding, something, I can't stop while being depraved of chakra. He smiles at me once again, this time, I actually manage to see his smile, as his mask has been tattered long ago.

"No." I shake my head, trying to keep my tears from falling down. "You won't die, sensei, I won't let you." I sob out, putting my hands over his wound, forcing every cell inside of me to produce additional, enough chakra for me to heal him. But with a small shake of his head, he takes my hands away from his stomach, offering me another, weak smile.

"I am already dying, Sakura-chan." He states simply. He has tears pooling in his eyes, but it does not even effect his calm tone. "And I have to tell you this, before I die." He coughs the blood out. "I am sorry. I should have paid you enough attention." He whispers with singe tear sliding down his face, making a path through the dried up blood. "I should have been a better sensei for you." He whispers again. "I am so proud of you, Sakura-chan." He smiles once again. "Please, forgive me." I nod, with more tears spilling from my eyes.

This time around, I don't want Kakashi to die to say this words. I want to prove him that I am worth of being ninja and I am worth of his attention. This time around, I am willing to change everything, in order to save them.

After tiring taijutsu training, I sit down by the tree shadow, closing my eyes and starting meditation once again in order to grow my chakra reserves.

***

"I have found here." A boy whispers above my head, forcing me to snap my eyes open. Above me is standing a young boy, with raven hair and red blazing eyes, Uchiha. I immediately hop on my legs and take a step back, looking carefully in the person in front of me. "Oh, don't be scared." A boy smiles at me kindly. "My name is Shisui." I stop at his name. He is Sasuke's older  cousin, who was killed just before the Massacre happened. His eyes were stolen by Danzo.

"What do you want, Shisui-san?" I whisper as politely as I can. My stance is clearly indicating that just a mere second ago, I was ready to attack him. He clearly notices it. But brushes it away, giving me a soft smile instead.

"Well, your parents got worried, when they didn't see you in the house in the morning and reported it in Uchiha Police Force." I nod at his explanation. "Come, I will take you home." He smiles at me and lifts me up.

I don't say anything, annoyed at myself that I forgot about the time factor. I intended to return home just before my parents woke up, but when I started meditation, I just felt as if time has stopped around me.

Shisui brings me back to my parents and soon I am engulfed into tight, yet angry embrace.

"Where have you been, Sakura?" Mom asks me through tears. Sometimes, back in the war, I have wondered if they have been missing me. If they remembered me. And only much later, I would have learnt that they have died immediately. I hug her back, keeping tears from slipping.

"I'm sorry, momma." I whisper through tears. "I left house early, I wanted to practice to become a strong shinobi, much like Shisui-san." I whisper and look down at my hands. Shisui looks at me with a small smile and nods.

"we can talk about it later, okay sweetie?" Mom looks at me with worried glance in her eyes. My parents were never fond of idea of me becoming a Shinobi. They believed it was the art of assassination, yet they respected all the Shinobis, as they kept the whole village safe. "Now, go to your room, okay sweetie?" I nod and run upstairs, shutting the door behind me.