Letters of Sakura

AN:

Interconnected alphabet drabbles of a canon divergent series in which Sakura Haruno is assigned to see a therapist. Focused more on the inner workings of her mind (thoughts, feelings, etc.) and confronting them- or avoiding them- with a neutral party. A slow build-up to a maybe! Psychological thriller. It might fall flat, who knows. This will start right after Team Seven is formed and before their first real mission in Mist, and possibly continue to the end of the war of the Five Nations and an epilogue during the blank period. Again, this will be canon divergent, so don't get your hopes up for any particular pairings. Romance isn't the focal point of this story. Future warnings of character deaths, violence, torture, and other trigger warnings. Read at your own risk.

Happy reading.

I own nothing.

Affiliated

…

"How are you today Sakura-san?" The man seated across from her asked. He sat comfortably in a cushioned chair a few feet away with one of his legs propped up against the other holding a small open folder with her picture inside. She stared at the framed paintings on the wall behind him, nervously twisting her hands together as she studied the pastel colors and soft textures mingling into a serene landscape. Her eyes decided that was to close in proximity to this stranger and they shifted away towards the door, wondering whether or not her parents were still seated outside in the waiting room.

"Fi-Fine." She didn't really know what to do in this situation. She's never been to see a doctor like this before, her parents just said that they'd scheduled an appointment to examine her but they never mentioned why. She almost jumped when he nodded and moved to write something down and she stopped herself from demanding what it was. Nice, polite, girls didn't do such things.

It was a mantra she had to repeat to herself quite often.

The man looked back up at her with a welcoming smile and sat with a calm presence moving to lean one arm on his armrest. "Your mother tells me you just graduated the ninja academy. That is quite the accomplishment for someone from a civilian family, you must be excited yes?" It was an opening statement to get her to open up, a nicety, and a method she learned at the academy for future reconnaissance and missions and any interrogations they would endure. It was a simple and subtle way to get a stranger to relax around you in a short amount of time if you were hard pressed for it- or to worm deeper into their psyche for a better target. She gave a half non-committal shrug and nodded and lowered her gaze to the floor beneath their feet. This felt safer.

He looked pensive for a moment before he asked, "Do you know why you're here today Sakura?" his tone drifted off on a semi-serious note as he stared down at her small form watching as her body twitched nervously at his attention.

She peeked up at his figure, not quite making it to his face and settled on the third button of his blazer. She paused for a moment and shook her head again, silently scouring her recent memories for something, anything that could have placed her here. That morning she got up and did her chores, stopped by Old-Kaede's house to help her with her garden, went on a quick mission with her team to deliver a late scroll to the village archives, asked Sasuke out to lunch, fought with Ino at lunchtime- Oh! She practiced her shuriken throwing for a little bit—and then met her parent's here for her appointment. Her brow furrowed a bit, the last couple weeks have been pretty much the same as far as she could remember. Nothing seemed to stand out as much as the time she spent most of her time with Sasuke and Team Seven.

The doctor nodded and straightened up a little while offering her a reassuring smile and stated, "Well, the point of this meeting is to introduce ourselves and become acquainted with each other. Your parent's and I want this to be a safe haven for you so that you have a place where if you need to say something you're afraid to tell anyone else or if you need to vent your feelings, you can,"

Inside her head, Inner blurted out, "Why would she need that? That sounds stupid!"

She gripped the edge of her dress a little tighter as she pushed Inner back to refocus on the conversation in front of her.

He continued on seemingly unaware of her thoughts, "-There's no need to worry, there's nothing wrong with you and you're not in trouble." This did not make her feel any better, "We're mainly here to make sure you feel safe and secure as you go out into the world on your own. Does this seem alright to you?" His little speech ended with an offer that felt more like a salesman try to get her to buy her trust. She sat there quietly as she gazed at his outstretched hand. Her parent's organized this meeting and expected her to attend more in the future. She still really didn't understand why they wanted her to do this but she shook his hand anyway and gave him a small smile of faux acceptance despite the raging doppelganger ramping in her mind at that very moment.

It couldn't hurt, right?

…

AN:

The psychologist/therapist is intentionally vague in appearance and name. I wanted his character to be almost invisible to focus more on Sakura and her thoughts. I'm not even sure he will stick around that long, to be honest, but I don't want to ruin anything for you guys yet.

Please tell me what you think about this story, this started out just as a normal angsty drabble series with random inserts but I wanted something a little bit deeper to tie it together. It's my first Naruto fic and there's always room for improvement.

TBC…