Walking down the streets of Konoha, one is expected to see some very peculiar things, things like men dressed in green spandex while walking down the street or even young boys running away from the local police force holding buckets of paint that you would later find out was the cause of the Nidaime's red mustache.
But what the young white haired Ten year old girl did not expect to see was a little pink haired girl crying alone, bruised and beaten sitting behind a trash can in an alley. So, of course, it would only be normal for the Ten year old to stop and stare, wondering what to do. But then of course, most people would do the same thing. What most people did not know, was that this Ten year old was actually very mature for her age, mature meaning that she behaved in a way the people twice her age did. So, once the young girl got over the initial surprise, she ventured confidently into the alley, intent on helping the weeping child.
Standing in front of the infant, the yellow eyed by passer knelt down so she could be at eye level with the other child and gently wiped away her tears, making dirt smudge onto her chubby cheeks.
"Why do you cry little one?" She asked gently, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a packet a small packet of tissues. Sniffing miserably, the little girl timidly took the tissue offered and blew her nose, but still did not talk. Whilst the younger child was distracted, the white haired girl took the time to study her, not in the least bit surprised at her bubblegum colored hair, after all she had white hair herself. What really captured her attention were the striking glistening emerald green eyes, which one could lose oneself in forever.
The pink haired child looked at her apprehensively, seemingly wary of this stranger that had come to ask of her problems. Lately, it seemed that everyone hated her. Once she confirmed that the older kid wasn't going to hurt her, she relaxed and started sobbing even more!
"M-my f-forehead…The other kids said t-that I have a big forehead. And today, when I went home, my d-daddy called me a u-useless piece of crap and the he h-hit me. T-then he told me t-to never go back again." She cried, sniffling and hiccupping in between words. This white haired person, she realized, seemed to be very kind to her and she watched suspiciously as two arms reached forward and were held out invitingly. Slowly, but surely, she inched forward timidly, and crawled into the older child's arms, burying her face into her neck and sitting on her lap.
"Shh…Its okay little one, everything will be okay. Tell me, what is your name?" The yellow eyed girl asked while soothingly running her fingers through the other's dirty pink hair.
"Sniff…Haruno Sakura, onee-san." Nee-san? Well it seemed the little girl had grown comfortable in her presence. Perhaps, the older girl thought, could be used to her advantage. Who didn't want a loyal follower to help with in the future, and since this little pink haired sprout was so young, no more than five years old, it would be assured that she would have her complete loyalty. And with all the plans she had in the future, having someone who could be her right hand could be beneficial, especially now that her father has passed away. Already this little civilian child had potential, unconsciously masking her chakra from any passerby. Yes…she had plans for this pink haired sapling.
"Well then, my name is Luna. Listen little one; do you want to stay this way forever? Because now that you have no home, you will not be living in the most comfortable conditions. Do you want that?" Luna asked her voice taking a serious tone. Little Sakura Haruno shook her head reverently, already knowing that it would be a hard life.
"N-no Onee-san! I don't want to! But I'm going to be a Kunoichi when I grow up! So that I can be strong and no one will bully me!" Sakura declared a new fire in her eyes. The white haired girl smiled approvingly, liking the determination in those burning twin emeralds.
"Well then listen, if you come with me, I can make you stronger. Stronger than anyone else. Do you want that Sakura-chan? Because I can if you want…" All it would take was a little prompting in that direction and the rest would be golden. Slowly, as if thinking about the offer, Sakura nodded. Then nodded once again more confidently.
"Yes! Yes I do want that Onee-san! I want to be the best Kunoichi ever!" She said brightly, her pink hair flying everywhere as she vigorously nodded her head.
"Good. But first Sakura-chan, you need to promise me something. Can you keep a promise?" The white haired girl said staring at Sakura right in the eyes. She was happy to see that Sakura did not look away.
"Anything! I can keep a promise! I swear!" It seemed that the little pink haired girl was quite cheerful when comfortable.
"I want you to promise that you will do whatever I tell you to. That my word is law and if I don't give my consent, you cannot do anything. I want you to pledge loyalty to me and only me. Not Konoha, not anyone else but I. If you do this, I will make you the greatest Kunoichi in history, and people will marvel at your name. I will take care of you and make sure no one will hurt you anymore. Can you do this? Because it will be hard, especially because for the time being, you will wear a Leaf hitai-ate and will make plenty friends. You will have to swear to the oath of Konoha that you will be loyal. Can you really Sakura-chan?" Luna asked seriously. It was a tough decision to make. Especially because of the bonds she might acquire during her time in the village.
Sakura smiled brightly, and clumsily reached for the older girl's hand. When the yellow eyed girl gave it to her, she looped their pinkies together and said "I pinky promise onee-san!"
And Luna couldn't help but smile because she knew then and there, that Sakura would keep her promise till the end.
"That's it Sakura-chan. Now listen, I want you to stay here just for a little bit okay? I need to do something's and I won't be gone for more two hours. Stay here and stay out of trouble. And if you see anyone else coming, I want you to stay extremely quiet. Do you hear me?" The white haired girl instructed sternly. It looked like Sakura was going to burst into tears.
"Y-you're leaving? Please don't go!" She cried scared of being abandoned as she latched onto the older girl's neck.
"I'm not leaving Sakura, I'm coming back okay? I would never leave. Just going to do something alright Sakura-chan?" She explained gently while rubbing her cheek along the pink haired child's.
"A-alright. I'll stay here. Just please come back." Sakura pleaded letting go of her new caretaker, unknowingly letting the flow of air back into her lungs.
"Good. I'll be back." Luna said standing up and inwardly grimacing at the fact that her legs felt like they just died and went to hell from being crouched so long and supporting the weight of another.
Now that the older girl had finally stood up and she was no longer crying, Sakura could clearly see what she looked like. She marveled at how pretty the older girl was, with her long straight white hair that fell to her waist and bright yellow eyes, which rivaled the sun, and naturally red lips. She was also wearing a long light blue sundress with flowers at the bottom and black pumps. She looked like a civilian and that way, no one would be any the wiser. With one last smile, she walked out the alley way and blended in with the busy Konoha crowds.
"Sakura, it is now time to start your training. I do hope you will be able to keep up, I do not like it when people waste my time." A white haired girl said seriously whilst sitting on the grass in a hidden clearing of one of Konoha's vast forests. It had been a week since she had found little Sakura and much to her dismay, there were many, many things wrong with the girl. Malnutrition, dehydration, signs of bruised or broken bones and even a weak immune system, which was the cause of her falling sick during the one week they had spent together. She had come down with a fever and then next thing you know, she was sick with a very bad flu and if the yellow eyed child had not been with her, poor Sakura might have died. Now though, after being fed properly, healed and taken care of, the pink haired sprout could begin her training, much to her enthusiasm.
"I know I can keep up!" Sakura cried determined to impress the only person who truly cared about her. Little Sakura could not even put into words the gratitude she had for her Onee-san. Her onee-san took care of her when she was very sick and weak, had bought her many different pretty pairs of ninja clothes, made her delicious meals and helped her become healthy again! The pink haired girl had decided for certain, that there would be no one else she would serve like her onee-san, and if her nee-san decided she needed to go fight, she would gladly lay down her life for her. Even if Sakura was only five years old, she was certain of this. And sometimes her onee even looked like her, much to the joy of the emerald eyed child. Her onee had said that when walking around Konoha, she would put on a henge that made her have red hair, which was a technique that she had promised to teach Sakura eventually, so that it would be believable. And even more so since her father had left the village. Yes, that mean man had just packed up his things and left as soon as poor Sakura was out the house, but little Sakura was proud to admit that she did not even miss him one teensy weensy bit! Now she had a better person to take care of her and Sakura was going to return the favor.
Looking around the clearing, the pink haired child could see a big pile of multicolored bean bags on one end, and on the other were different colored buckets. Though it was a tad bit hard to see because it was a REALLY big clearing they were in, and Sakura could not even for the life of her, imagine what they were going to do! Turning back to her new sensei, the pink haired chibi could only tilt her head in confusion in order to convey her message.
"We are going to work on your endurance, speed and reaction time. You will stand there-"Luna said pointing to a patch of grass-free dirt about three meters away"-And I will through a random bean bag at you. There are four different colors; red, yellow, blue and green with their bucket counterpart. When I throw a bean bag at you, you have to run to the bucket of the same color, and put it inside and run back. I will still be throwing bean bags at you while you do this at random moment so you must be alert and ready at all times. I will be timing you, and if you cannot do this in less than forty-five minutes, you will have to do five laps around the clearing in twenty minutes and start again from scratch. I don't think I need to point out that this clearing is roughly the size of a rugby field, the popular civilian sport. Are you ready?" The white haired trainer asked. Little Sakura was now having serious doubts of whether or not she could do it, she knew of rugby, it was a civilian sport her dad used to watch all the time, and she knew how big the field was. And she had to do this in forty-five minutes or else five laps around it? She could only hope she would not disappoint. Nodding hesitantly, her teacher gave her a small reassuring smile, which was gone in an instant and then motioned for her to go stand in position.
"Ready…GO!" And it started. The first bean bag was thrown so fast that she hardly had time to react, and fumbled with it in order to catch it. Once it was firmly in her hands, she took off as fast as her legs would take her, which wasn't very fast considering the fact that she was five and had pretty short legs. Arriving at the buckets and heading straight for the green one, which was the same color as her bag and dropped the bean filled sack inside. She turned just in time to catch another bean bag and noted it was red, and the red bucket was at the end of the row. Jogging to it, she dumped the bag inside and took off running back again. She didn't even make it half-way when two more bags were thrown her way and with much difficulty, she caught them both and put them in their respective buckets. Just as she was about to turn around, three bags hit her on the head, knocking the poor sprog down, along with the yellow bucket she was in front of.
"Faster!" The older girl commanded and Sakura could only nod meekly from her spot on the bucket. Grimacing slightly when the hard plastic dug into her stomach, she pushed herself up again and told herself to be brave; she had faced much worse abuse. Picking up the bucket along with her bean bags, she hurriedly placed them in their allocated buckets and turned back, just in time to take two in the face and two in the stomach. And it was hard; she stumbled backwards but regained her balance and saw that they were all different colors! The poor girl had to run to each and every bucket and by the time she was finished was panting very hard. But it was not over, she ran back and almost made it to the starting point when another green bag was hurled her way. Resisting the urge to cry, she caught it and ran back to the buckets and almost placed it into the red one, but at the last minute changed course and placed it correctly.
Back and forth she went and on many occasions, dropped the bean bags flung her way, and by the time the pile was only half way, she felt ready to collapse, but pushed on. She had a promise to keep she would chant in her head. A promise to serve her onee-chan and how could she do that if she couldn't even put bean bags in the right place? The white haired girl had warned her that the training would be hard and if Sakura couldn't keep up then she could kiss her dream goodbye.
Jumping to the side in order to catch the high-speed projectile, the pink haired girl miscalculated and fell short of it, and ended up getting friendly with the ground. Just as she was about to get up, a loud "Stop!" rang through the clearing and she knew her forty-five minutes were over. Sighing dejectedly, she got up wearily, panting excessively with sweat pouring down her forehead and her knees begging for release.
"Start your laps Sakura." Her onee instructed and with a quick swipe at her eye(she had something in it, that was the only reason her eyes were damp), did as she was told. Whilst running, she couldn't help but marvel at how fast her 'sister' arrived at the other end of the clearing and throw back all the bean bags from the buckets back into the pile with unfailing accuracy finishing before Sakura even finished her first lap! It was then little Sakura realized that she had been going easy on her and Sakura bowed her head in shame, this time letting the tears fall. She couldn't even do it properly when her onee was doing it slowly for her, and dare she say she wanted to be the greatest Kunoichi in the world? She was a disgrace to all aspiring female five year olds!
No! She must work harder in order to reach her dream and make her nee-san proud! With renewed determination, the pink haired girl started doing her laps with much more vigor and enthusiasm.
In the white haired girls opinion, little Sakura-chan wasn't doing too bad…for a civilian. For a ninja…well, it was horrible. But then again, that might be a little biased because as a little girl, she had done this little exercise at three, and had gotten all the bean bags in thirty minutes. So perhaps she wasn't the best one to all in all, Sakura was doing a bit better than expected, and ever since she had finished her laps, it was like she had gotten some new foreign energy which made her try even harder! That was a good thing she supposed, and now she could clearly see, that Sakura had a lot of raw potential. Especially since she was unconsciously channeling chakra through her legs in order to go faster. Not that she knew it of course, but the white haired youngster could see that this pink haired sapling had excellent chakra control, and that would make things a lot easier for her because of all the techniques she had planned to teach her. Yes…little Sakura had a bright future ahead of her.
She couldn't move, it was like her arms and legs were not listening to her at. All. The cherry blossom namesake was currently lying in a sweaty heap in the clearing under the sweltering noon sun and she was oh so very tired. They had started training at dawn, and it was only now they had stopped, and during that time, not once had Sakura been able to get all the bean bags into their respective buckets. The five year old was tired, sad and hungry. And at the moment, did not particularly care that she was flopped out on the ground sweating like a pig and smelling worse than a hobo who had just crawled outer of the sewers. Maybe that was a bad comparison, seeing as that was her situation one week ago.
"Shall we go get lunch Sakura-chan?" Luna asked smiling pleasantly at the pink haired child. Sakura had learn't the hard way that there was a stark difference between Onee-san the teacher and Onee-san the caretaker.
"Nngg…"The five year old grunted halfheartedly. The white haired trainer frowned not liking what the pink haired girl had said.
"Sakura, use your words. You're a girl, not a dying bear. Come now, we shall go for a lunch break then we shall continue your training. We have much to do Sakura-chan. " Luna instructed standing up from her cross-legged position and dusting herself off, but other than the dirt which had accumulated, she was virtually spotless, not a hair out of place.
"Gomen, Onee-san." Sakura apologized, pushing herself up and ignoring her wobbly knees. Smiling down at the pinkette, the white haired girl deftly put her long white hair into a bun and performed the henge, instantly turning her hair red.
"Come, you must regain your strength little one." The white haired girl said and bent down whilst pointing to her back so Sakura could hop on and boy did the pink haired sapling do so eagerly, only too happy to get a ride from her onee. Adjusting the little girl on her back and placing her arms under her thighs for support, she was ready to go. What Sakura did not understand was why her sister acted like a grown up. And she also acted like she was from a noble family. Though that could have been the case because little Sakura hadn't been told much from the Ten year old. Sakura knew that was a tad bit suspicious but as long as she was being taken care of and fed, even she knew not t o look a gift horse in the mouth. And as for the grown-up thing, maybe the white haired girl was just mature for her age. VERY mature.
Sakura dropped the subject and smiled brightly at a bird she saw. They made their way out of the forest and into the busy streets of Konoha. It was a stark contrast between the two girls, one which was clean, proper and dirt free with an aura of calmness and the other dirty, sweaty and full of wrinkles on her clothing and cheerily skipping down the street. To most though, it would just look like an older sister had gone to pick up her sibling from the playground for lunch.
"Nee-san, what are we going to do after lunch?" The little voice by her ear asked curiously.
"We are going to do something very important. We'll be working on flexibility, and you'll be doing tricks and different things. In order to learn the fighting style I will eventually teach you, your body needs to get used to many different positions." The white haired girl replied whilst dodging the busy noon crowd of the village.
"But why? I'm already flexible! I can do handstands and cartwheels and I can even do the splits!" Sakura protested indignantly. The now red head could only shake her head in amusement and turned her neck to look at her, smiling softly.
"Because Sakura, you need to learn how to do it the right way without injuring yourself or pulling a muscle, especially since you are still young and not fully devel-oof!" The white haired girl cried and stumbled backwards a bit. Though she quickly regained her balance and she and Sakura looked down to see a little boy around the pinkette's age rubbing his forehead. Gently, easing down a reluctant Sakura from the perch on her back, the white haired girl crouched down to help the boy up. He had raven black spiky hair and matching colored eyes and was wearing white shorts and a high collared navy blue t-shirt with a paper fan at the back. Luna could instantly tell that this young boy was Uchiha Sasuke from the file description, the second heir to the Uchiha clan. And if Sasuke was here, it meant his brother was close behind.
"Otouto, stop running, the training gro-Oh, my apologies. It seems my brother has bumped into you. Sasuke, apologize to these people." Another black haired child around the 'red haired' girl's age said when he appeared from the crowed. Luna could only smirk on the inside about how right she was; this boy here was Uchiha Itachi, the child prodigy who was already a chunin in rank but a high-level jonin in skill. Luna couldn't help but think that he could even give her a run for her money. And even at her young age, she was no pushover.
"Gomenasai…" Sasuke said ashamed of getting scolded by his big brother.
The red head simply ruffled his hair and smiled at him, "No harm done, right Sakura?" She asked turning to the silent girl cowering behind her. All she got was a timid nod in response and smiled at her too. It seemed that the pink haired girl was just naturally shy around strangers
"Come now Sakura, that is no way to act! I thought you wanted to be a Kunoichi like me! Kunoichi do not cower behind their older sister! Introduce yourself!" Luna chastised gently pushing Sakura in front of her. When Sasuke gasped, it seemed as if Sakura was ready into crawl into a hole and die.
"Wow! Is your hair really pink? I've never seen pink hair! Actually, I've never even seen you at the academy! How can you be a kunoichi if you don't attend the academy?" Sasuke asked haughtily and Sakura frowned.
"Foolish little brother, do not be rude." Itachi berated calmly. But it seemed he wasn't even interested in pink hair, oh no, he was currently drilling holes into Luna's head. Although for her part, the red haired was ignoring it with no problem.
"It's alright; he's not being rude, just curious. Actually yes, that is Sakura's real hair color. And she's only attending the academy next year; I'm training her first is all. Are you in the academy S-little one?" The red head inwardly cursed, she had almost said Sasuke's name. But she had to remember that they had not been introduced yet. Itachi was currently interested and it wouldn't do to make it worse.
"Otouto has just started the academy. I have not seen you at the academy whilst picking him up. Have you graduated already?" The weasel's namesake asked blankly before the younger boy could reply. Luna smirked all friendly like and said with no little amount of amusement "Actually, I'm a jonin." The look on his face was worth it, and she couldn't help the widening of her smirk. But as soon as his expression of surprise had appeared, it was gone, and the sandy haired girl could not help but wonder why the Uchiha were so fond of expressionless robots.
"I see. Then we must spar sometime." He said regaining his composure. Little Sakura-chan raised an eyebrow, wondering why the big boy was staring at her onee-chan like that, and why her onee-chan seemed to be having fun! But then she came to the conclusion that it was just older kids being weird.
"Oh yes we must. Sakura-chan and I were just about to get lunch at the little Dango café a few blocks away. Would you like to join us?" The yellow eyed girl asked pleasantly. Oh, she knew that she was baiting the Uchiha prodigy with her knowledge of his love for dango, and he knew it too judging by the way his eyes narrowed minutely, but she just kept her façade up and carried on acting innocent.
"Maybe some other time. My Otouto and I were called for lunch by my mother. " She noted that not once had he shared their names, always referring to Sasuke as Otouto, and it proved to Luna that he was suspicious enough not to compromise his little brother. Well, not for long…
"I see. You never gave us your name." She said whilst nonchalantly meeting his blank but hard eyes, the perfect epitome of calm.
"It is common courtesy to give your own first." He replied in a detached manner. She smiled brightly, dripping with honey and sugar.
"Ah, yes! How rude I am! My name is Haruno Akaia, and this is Sakura." She said ruffling the confused child's hair.
"I am Uchiha Itachi and this is my younger brother Sasuke." The dark haired boy stated. He watched her carefully but made no indications to the subtle threat he had just thrown at her. He had clearly drawn out the word 'MY' but to any civilian, they would have heard nothing. She smiled and took Sakura's hand, gently nudging the girl to walk forward as she followed suite, he watching them all the while.
"It was a pleasure to meet you Itachi-san." She said 'pleasantly' and walked away without another glance behind.
She swore she heard the Sharingan activate.
Okay! First Chapter Up of the long awaited Chikara! Hope you like it...
For this first chappie I'm flying Solo because I was a tad bit impatient but I've got a Beta so the rest will be ten times better.
The next chapter should be up on Monday(hopefully) so keep those fingers crossed.
Don't forget to review okay?
Lots of love,
Bluetopianprincess^.^