She opened her eyes to the sound of the birds chirping.
But it was no use...
Opening them to see familiar darkness was normal but waking up to birds chirping was not.
It was too... lively...
Where was the smoke and destruction, the smell of blood, the cries of the wounded, the sense of hopelessness?...
But there was no time to think about that, there was someone close by, friend or foe, she did not know.
'To the left'
She did not move but was aware of the intruder. Reaching for her kunai pack discreetly, hoping her movements were subtle enough not to be noticed.
"What is the woman doing out here in the middle of the forest?" the intruder said. His tone may have sounded friendly but there was a distinct edge to it.
Finally, she looked at the intruder's general direction, noting that he was male.
They didn't know it but this meeting led to a relationship that time can't even break.
(^0^)[line]
Tobirama... Tobirama Senju...
That was his name...
As protocol dictates, he took her back to Konoha. But it wasn't the Konoha she knew, her Konoha, her home.
She was interrogated but found no fault to her answers, they may not be lies but they were not the entire truth either.
She was known as Sakura, only Sakura with no last name, no clan, no ties.
She was an excellent medic-nin with the strength of a herd of bulls when angered.
She was a travelling individual who got ambushed on the outskirts of the new village, Konoha.
Sakura had her suspicions but knowing that the man who took her in for questioning just made those suspicions to a living nightmare or dream.
Tobirama Senju, the nidaime hokage...
Future nidaime hokage basing on the current time she's in, the shodaime's period... That sounded a bit wrong...
He was her appointed guard for he was the one who found her.
(^0^)[line]
She lived in the 'past', she's still bewildered by it, for sixteen years, her present age when she woke up in the 'past'.
During that time, she was 're-instated' as a Konoha nin, a hospital was established with Sakura as Head Medic, she was the one who attended to Tsunade's birth and later became a god mother much to her delight...
She became a formidable asset to the growth of Konoha, even with her blindness, but her stay was more meaningful beacause of her growing friendship with the snow-haired Senju.
Sakura felt something more but didn't let her feelings show... She knew her time was nearly up.
(^0^)[line]
Tobirame was hokage for a few years and stress and weariness were eating him up due to the Second Shinobi War.
His team was due for a recon mission in a few hours and he so dearly wanted to see Sakura before leaving.
He knew he loved her, he couldn't deny it.
He never knew his initial interest in her would turn up like this.
He never asked her out for fear of rejection but as he grew more confident, he never had the time for his duties as hokage needed his attention. There's still a lot of time, he tells himself.
Walking up to her door, he knocked.
There was no answer.
He waited then knocked again, a little frantic this time.
The force of his knock opened the door just a crack.
He could not stop the scenarios running through his mind.
Running inside, he tried to pin point her chakra... He found it, it was so small he would not have found it were he was a lesser trained shinobi.
He ran to her bedroom but all he found as he opened the door with force were cherry blossoms landind on the bed...
He can't feel her chakra anymore.
On the bed with the cherry blossoms was a round pendant with a cherry blossom tree growing in the harsh season of winter as decoration. A gift to him from her... or so the note says.
He could not stop the anguished cry that burst out without warning.
She was gone.
His Cherry Blossom was gone.
(^0^)[line]
She woke up to a sore body with people conversing lowly.
"Good, you're awake," Tsunade said.
Tsunade, her shishou... not her apprentice.
"Sakura-chan, you're back!" shouted a certain blonde knucklehead we all know and love.
Sakura smiled.
"It's good to be back."
But the dull ache in her chest refused to go away.
(^0^)[line]
The four reanimated hokages stood proudly at the front.
As Naruto conversed with his dad, Minato Namikaze, she looked at the nidaime hokage, or where she felt his chakra was, and gave him a sad smile, tears threatening to fall down her face.
She loved him but time refuses to let them be together.
(^0^)[line]
He looked at her with weary acceptance...
He knew she was unique but this was over the top.
Nevertheless, he smiled back.
"I'll be waiting..."