Notes: Wow, this is my first fanfic that I'm gonna post on I wrote this while I was locked out of my house for 3 hours in the freezing cold. Please be nice to me and review.

I don't know why I'm writing a Sakura fic. I'm not a big Sakura fan, I mean she is so useless. But I'm kinda mad at Kishimoto who's the creator of Naruto because he isn't giving females enough credit. I was disappointed at the lack of character growth on all the female characters. You don't even have to look closely at the manga to know that all the powerful people are males and Kishimoto doesn't really go anywhere with his female characters.

Pairing: Well, I had the sudden idea of a ShikaSakuNeji love triangle. And my definition of a love triangle is both loves Sakura, Sakura can't choose. So this will probably turn out to be quite fun though it might change if none of you like the idea. Or I might toss another crazy guy in there just make it more interesting. I think this will be the first of this love triangle on and I hope you guys enjoy!

Thank you my dear cousin Daniel for getting me interested in NARUTO!!! hugz and kissez

Disclaimer: I do not own … ummm Kiba! Who's Naruto? I don't know if I own it or not scratches head. Oh, and I don't own Rock Lee coz he's kinda freaky, though the devotion breaks my heart.

Just Get Back Up Chapter One: The Fallen Just Sits There

It was a day in the middle of summer, Sakura sighed as she slowly walked down the road. In her hands were groceries that she forced herself to buy so that she wouldn't be starving or waking up in the middle of the night and messing up the house trying to find something still edible in the fridge.

She took the shortcut through the middle of the woods to her house on the other side of it. Sakura sighed again, seems like that she's been doing that quite a bit lately. Ever since that fateful day her parents, ANBU members were killed by Hidden Stone shinobi during a mission.

It's been a year already, but she still misses them terribly. They were close, like the perfect family. They did all the activities a regular family did. She could still remember two summers ago when they took a vacation in Hidden Snail Village at the beach. That was a magical summer, one that she'll never forget.

But Sakura's time of happiness has now passed; it's just her now, alone. Feeling lonely everyday, waking up and slugging through breakfast that consists of something instant in a box. Sakura never cooked if she had to, she sucked at it. The one time she tried make breakfast a couple months ago, she discovered that oil ignites when it gets too hot. After that significant milestone in her cooking career, she never turned on the stove again.

As Sakura wandered down the well-used trail to her house, she sighed yet again. More and more depressed. Now she understands what it was like for her teammates Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, to grow up as an orphan, without anyone, to have that hole in their heart every time they see a happy family together.

Sakura was luckier; at least she had parents for 12 years of her life while Naruto didn't even know his parents and Sasuke had to watch his entire clan slaughtered in from of his own eyes. Or maybe this just made it harder for her, her parents were so real, they were everything to her.

She still remembers the vacation they took two years ago at Hidden Snail Village. They spent weeks frolicking by the beach, canoeing through the fjords by the ocean and eating exotic seafood. Seemed like only yesterday that Sakura's mom scolded her for ruining yet another pot when she tried to boil water. But the truth is, it was over a year ago and it would never happen again.

She exited the woods and went up the steps to her house. Sakura gently set the groceries on the porch while she rummaged around her pockets looking for the keys. She no longer wore the symbolic red dress and green biker shorts. She had exchanged them for a red mesh shirt and black cargos. The hair, still the same cotton candy pink is kept short like it was during the Chunnin Exam.

She had thought of dying it black when her parents died. The pink was too cheerful, to bright and too happy. She was none of those in the months that followed the funeral. But in the end, she decided to keep it pink, it was who she was, and she could remember her mother, who had the longest, silkiest and most gorgeous pink hair.

Opening the door, she stepped in with the groceries. Hearing her stomach rumble, Sakura decided that she was hungry and proceeded to put away all the groceries. Now she opened her cupboards and looked around. Cups and boxes of instant udon, instant ramen, instant chow mien and instant sushi stared back at her. Not much of a choice. She randomly selected a box of instant udon and heated some water.

Life is boring she decided, Sakura had trained all day, she pathetically tried some taijutsu moves to no avail. Truth to be told, she sucked at it. Her kicks did nothing, her punches were off and she was too damn slow not to mention she had the endurance of a pig.

This wasn't fair, Sakura wasn't stupid, to the contrary, she was brilliant, the smartest of all the Gennins who graduated from the academy. The only one who was probably as smart as her was Shikamaru, and he got to be a Chunnin. It wasn't that Sakura didn't try, she did. Just not as hard as Sasuke and Naruto. Even if she did try, she was always overlooked by them anyways, so she just gave up.

Sakura accepted the fact that she could never be as strong as Sasuke and Naruto a long time ago. She just gave up on trying, gave up on caring.

It wasn't her fault that she was just so ordinary, and ordinary she was. Her family was small, unknown by most, they possessed no bloodline ability like the Uchihas and their Sharingan or the Hyuugas and their Byakugan. She couldn't control various bugs and insects like Aburame Shino and his clan. Sakura also had no special connection with dogs like Kiba and his dog Akamaru. She also lacked for a special jutsu like her friend Ino's Mind Switching Jutsu or Chouji's Human Bowling Ball jutsu.

Sakura wouldn't even want to have a demon in her body. Not that she hates Naruto or anything, it's just that the whole thing with Gaara really freaked her out. I mean who wouldn't be scared after you were nearly suffocated under a massive clump of sand by a red haired sand nin who was way too irrational for her liking.

Sakura finished the rest of the udon and drank the soup and made a face, it tasted like preservatives and lots of salt, sodium and other unhealthy stuff. She then proceeded to dump out the rest of the soup and chuck the container out. With yet another sigh she brushed her teeth and promptly went to sleep, after all, it has been an eventful day.

There was the clashing of weapons hitting off of each other and the soft thumps of whacks and thumps as hits were exchanged. There was a snake-faced man who was grinning evilly and skillfully dodging everything. She recognized that face. A face that made her freeze with panic. Orochimaru.

Sakura had never forgot that face, ever since the Forest of Death from the Chunnin Exam, she had been constantly thinking about him. He scared her, there was no doubt. Naruto and Sasuke were scared too. They all were. This is a legendary Sennin they're talking about.

Sasuke and Naruto were giving everything they had to try and hit Orochimaru and Orochimaru didn't even break a sweat avoiding the attacks. Where was Kakashi-sensei? Not that Kakashi-sensei would've stood a chance against Orochimaru. But it would've helped even the odds a bit.

Sasuke's Chidori and Naruto's Rasenagan were brushed away by Orochimaru like a mere ant. None of their attacks seemed to faze Orochimaru. And this made Orochimaru grin. It was a nasty grin, a grin of pure malice and evil enjoyment.

They launched to their feet again but this time, Sakura could only stare in horror as Orochimaru laughed and launched some forbidden jutsu at Sasuke, which made him knock into Naruto. They both slammed into a tree, the tree cracked and gained a hole in it from the powerful momentum the two boys slammed into the tree with.

Sakura couldn't move, she tried to scream only to find that her voice was gone. She tried to make her legs move, but there was nothing there. Sasuke and Naruto weren't getting up and Orochimaru was approaching her with that diabolical grin of his on his face. Her frantic heart beat louder and her eyes widened in a look of pure terror like mice right before a cat ripped of their head.

No one was coming to rescue her this time, she was all alone. If only she could do something, if only she wasn't so helpless. If only she wasn't so damn helpless…

Orochimaru was right in front of her, and Sakura found that she could not tear her eyes from Orochimaru's dark and malevolence eyes that seemed to suck your soul out. He reached out his arm and grabbed Sakura's neck.

She tried to flinch, but she couldn't, Orochimaru smiled and Sakura was suddenly very much afraid of that snake-like tongue. Orochimaru lowered his head and she could feel his tongue on her head. Swirling over her skin, sucking and tasting her.

She was afraid, very much afraid. Orochimaru now took her mouth and brutally shoved his tongue in it. She could feel him in her mouth, but nothing could be done.

She felt Orochimaru pull her towards him, and tried to think. But it is really hard to think when the bad guy is running his hands up and down her thighs. Sakura suddenly had a burst of anger, is this all she was worth? Was she just a thing to be raped?

Summoning strength she didn't know that she had, she bit down on her tongue just as Orochimaru pulled her in for another kiss and closed her eyes. There was intense pain.

Suddenly everything disappeared and all was quiet, she forced her eyes to open, it was still dark and she was lying in her bed, covered in a film of cold sweat. She could still feel her heart pounding in her chest like the tribal drums when Tsunade became the 5th Hokage.

Her tongue hurt, she reached up to touch it. The fingers came back red, she was bleeding. She had bitten it, and for once, Sakura was glad that she was bleeding.

She shuddered, still remembering the dream; she shook her head a couple times and blinked as if trying to shake the nightmare away. It didn't work. Sakura was still stuck with the image of Orochimaru violating her, touching her, tasting her.

Now she was angry all over again. If she were stronger, this wouldn't have happened, if she did something, this wouldn't have happened, if she weren't so fucking helpless, this definitely wouldn't have happened. So when it comes down to it, it was all Sakura's fault.

She knew it, and she hated it. All her life, she's been passed over and ignored; she just wanted someone to pay a bit of attention to her, was that too much to ask?

Yes, she had fallen. And it was her fault that she gave up and refused to get back up again. But now, she decided, after sitting on the cold hard ground all this time that she was stronger than that. She didn't need to just sit on the ground and wait for someone will pull her up. She can get up herself, and she didn't need anyone to help her up.

But she does need a suitable teacher, and she grinned, tomorrow she decided, she would go and have a nice long talk with the Hokage. And then hopefully she'll get someone decent to train her.

For now, she rolled over and fell asleep again, this time with a hidden strength inside of her.

End of Chapter Two

…tbc

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Oh yeah, if anyone's interested into beta-ing for me, I would really appreciate it. High school is so busy. sighz Email me at .

Merffles