A/N: I realize I should be writing Hokage of Oz right now, but I felt inspired, and wanted to write this. Enjoy the product of twenty minutes and an author who is recovering from stressful school things through Spring Break.
Disclaimer: Pfft. No.
Trying
Sakura tried. She tried to make everyone happy. She tried to be a better ninja. She tried to keep her life together. And, Goddamn it, she tried to make everything perfect. But sometimes, she just couldn't try hard enough.
She would train, train until she was barely breathing and had no chakra left. Then she would give herself a five minute break before getting up and getting back to work. On more than one occasion, Anbu found her, strewn in the woods somewhere, half-dead. Tsunade busted her ass for this every time, but Sakura kept trying harder because she needed to know she was Jounin material. That she could be a better ninja.
Sakura would only skip training to help out. She would try to help Ino in the shop, be a super medic nin, and treat Naruto to ramen all in the same two hours. Sometimes she managed to juggle all her tasks and everyone was happy. Other times, she'd mentally collapse in the middle of everything, leaving everyone shorthanded. All she could do was try to make everyone happy.
Tsunade told her she was making herself sick from stress; that she was slowly killing herself. She told Sakura that she had to relax. Sakura couldn't just "calm down and take it easy". She had to do everything everyone wanted her to do, as well as succeed in her goals. She couldn't stop and just not bring Sasuke back. She couldn't pause and let the Sound nin get away. She couldn't ask for a time-out on her life. It just didn't work that way.
At some point, Sakura got an ulcer. And her blood pressure shot up and stayed there. She got about two hours of sleep a night and her green eyes were permanently blood shot. She ran around like a little rabbit, doing things for everyone and training and just trying to make everything flawless.
She knew she was dying. It wasn't a surprise; since Tsunade had warned her about it. But she kept trying for perfection because she wanted her family, her friends, and her village to remember as the girl who did everything, not the lazy ass who never helped anyone.
She eventually got so weak, that she was stuck in the hospital, on in intravenous tube. Tsunade said she had to stay there for a month, at least. Sakura seethed. She was in the hospital for an hour and approximately forty-three minutes before she ripped the tube from her hand and jumped through the window. She landed at the front doors of the hospital and stood still for a moment, panting. A minute later, Sakura collapsed. Her heart at finally stopped trying.
A/N: I hope it was alright. Tell me what you thought in a review!