A/N: If you want to play The Pretty Reckless: Make Me Wanna Die as you read, it is the song I used to imagine this. Forgive me for the lack of sense. It is 2 in the morning.

Cherry Blossom Dawn

Sakura gazed out of her window at the last vestiges of light from the slowly setting sun. She shouldered her pack and crouched at the window, ready to leave. Her eye caught on the photo of her, Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi on display beside her bed, and she hastily picked it up, cursing herself all the while for her weakness. Then she jumped.

She marvelled at how quiet Konoha was during the night.

Everything looks better when the sun goes down … easier to leave behind …

She walked past Ino's flower shop, then stopped and gazed down at the photograph in her hand. Not for the first time, she thought about what she was going to do and almost turned back. Then she looked into the eyes of the man she hated

… and loved …

captured forever behind the picture's glass, and cast the photograph aside. She began to run for the gate, reaching it in a matter of minutes. She wrapped her fist in chakra and smashed through it easily, whipping out a kunai as she did so and quickly dispatching the two guards. She continued running, into the forest surrounding her home.

… not her home any more …

She glanced to her left and right and saw two shadowy figures dashing through the trees with her. A third glided stealthily above them on a huge clay bird. They ran in silence apart from the sounds of their feet, Sakura letting her companions guide her to their destination.

Another figure was waiting for them when they reached a small clearing in the trees. As Sakura's escorts came to a stop next to her, they knelt and greeted him:

"Pein-sama."

"Hidan, Itachi, Deidara," he nodded to each of them in turn.

"And Sakura." His violet eyes came to rest on her, and she found it hard not to quail under his forceful glare. "Are you prepared to swear your allegiance to the Akatsuki?"

She thought about why she was doing this and her mouth set in a grim line of determination. She knelt before Pein and proclaimed, "I am ready."

"Good." He smiled, and Sakura shivered. " Now, hand me a kunai, and repeat after me…"

Kakashi knelt down next to smashed picture and frame that looked like it had been cast against the wall, with Naruto close behind him. The alarm had been raised and the gate guards found dead at their posts. This looked like an inside job, so as many shinobi as possible had been called out to search for clues as to the identity of the defectee. He brushed glass from the back of a tattered photograph and turned it over. He gasped.

"What is it, Sensei?" Naruto asked.

"It's Sakura," He replied quietly. Naruto just looked at him, uncomprehending.

"Sakura has abandoned the hidden leaf village."

"Whaaaaaaaaaaat?" Naruto let out an unparalleled screech of disbelief. "Sensei, we have to find her!"

The two set off running toward the forest, unknowingly following the path previously trodden by their erstwhile teammate.

"Sharingan!" Kakashi activated his right eye and spied the chakra signatures of 5 people up ahead.

"Naruto! Stealth!"

Naruto immediately yelled wordlessly and burst into the clearing. Kakashi sighed and followed, albeit a bit more stealthily.

What they saw shocked them. Sakura was rising from a kneeling position in front of the flame haired Akatsuki, with a brand new kunai-made line across the leaf symbol on her forehead protector, proclaiming her a missing nin.

"Sakura … why?" Naruto cried.

She gave him a cold glare. "Because I want to reach my full potential. I can't do that here. Only the Akatsuki can make me as dangerous as I need to be to kill Sasuke. Oh, don't look at me like that. He tossed us all aside like we were trash, not good enough for "The Great Sasuke Uchiha". So I will become powerful next to the brother that he hates, and he will come to me."

And with that she chakra-punched Naruto so hard he flew twenty feet into a tree, slid to the ground, and was still.

"Let us leave, comrades." Said Pein. And Deidara flew into the air and yelled "Katsu!" Previously planted bombs near to the village exploded, sending flames high into the air, and blocking the reinforcements that were on their way. These flames were the backdrop as Sakura donned an Akatsuki cloak, and she, Itachi, and Hidan followed their leader into the darkness, Hidan slashing at Kakashi with his Scythe for good measure. He fell to his knees and screamed "Sakura!" at the rapidly disappearing pink-haired girl. She didn't look back, even as the flames and the psychopathic terrorist bomber reached the gates of the village she had held so dear.

… still held so dear …

A/N: It's 5 in the morning now. It's strangely exciting being awake and drinking fizzy drinks at this hour. Anyways, this is my first fanfic, and it's very late/very early (depending on how you look at it), so please be kind. BTW I can actually write decently, but it has to be at a decent hour (apparently, after reading this. Some of it doesn't even make sense.). Oh, and I probably won't reply to any reviews for a while, because I'm going to be away until Thursday, and it might take me a while to work out how to. To be honest, I don't even know if you can. I'll shut up now, but only if you push the button. I would, if only to tell me to stop rambling and go to sleep.

Bai Bai now ^.^

~TrebleTwenty

p.s. Cookies for anyone who can tell me where I got this name from. I'm not sure.