So I'm back with another dealy. This was just a random thought that came to mind. If people enjoy it, I will probably make this into a full length chapter story. Let me know your opinions, review, follow, and favorite. :)

S Lyubov'yu,

Casper

Sakura sighed as she walked down the streets of Konaha, she pushed her bubblegum colored hair and looked up at the sky. It was going to rain again, she supposed it only seemed fitting after the way her last mission went. She'd cried herself to the point where no tears remained, it seemed that Mother Nature was going to lend her a hand and provide her with the skies tears. Seeing as she could no longer bring herself to cry on single tear anymore. She sighed once more and made her way back towards the Hokage tower. Even though her mission was a complete failure, she still had a report to make. She knew that Tsunade wouldn't be upset with her, because failures happen, but it didn't make her feel any better about the fact that she had failed.

It had been a simple healing mission but due to quite a few complications, it was a total bust. First she had been cornered like a lowly street rat, then she was hit in the neck with a poisoned senbon that had rendered her useless. She wasn't even able to use her chakra to filter out the damned poison! It had just been one mistake after another. Sakura was starting to see a pattern, every mission she had taken in the last few months was either finished with extreme difficulty or was a failure entirely. She didn't know what had changed so much that it would make this much of a difference. Maybe she was out of practice? She did take some time off after Naruto had brought back the news of Sasuke's death. Had she really taken off that much time? She didn't really remember just how long she had been out of it after she had received the news. All she could remember was being told and falling to her knees in a heap, screaming her lungs to the point of severe pain as she mourned her friend.

Unfortunately, Sasuke wasn't the first person from their group from the Academy to pass into the next life. Two years ago they had lost Neji in a battle against an army of rouge ninja. Two months later, they lost TenTen to her sorrow and the longing for the man of her dreams. Lee and Gai had been total wrecks after that, neither male yelled about youth anymore. Their green jump suits were gone and replaced with traditional ninja attire. You rarely saw their blinding smiles anymore. Their hearts were completely broken.

A year ago they had lost Ino to a massive heart attack, nobody had even seen that one coming. She had been so healthy and there had been nothing wrong with her before hand. When she died, it had hurt none other than Sai the most. After Sai had figured out how to appropriately show his emotions, the two had been joined at the hip. They had become not only best friends, but even lovers. Sakura smiled as she remembered the day that Ino announced that she and Sai were finally a couple. All of their friends had gone out for drinks to celebrate.

A few months after that, they had lost Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino when the leader of Akatsuki had leveled the village. They had been crushed under the rubble of the Academy. Although all of their friends knew they went out protecting their home and that they had willingly given their lives in order to save the children that were still in the building, it had been truly heartbreaking for everyone around them. Not only had two of the most prominent clans in the village lose their heirs, the village had lost two irreplaceable shinobi and a wonderful nin-dog, they had lost three amazing people.

And now, on a mission she had gone on alone, she had lost the person she had been sent to save. After being attacked on her way to her client, to save them from the sickness that had overtaken them, she hadn't made it in time. With one final sigh, she looked up and realized that she had already arrived at the tower. She slowly made her way up towards Tsunade's office, a plan in mind. She had made her decision and knew what she had to do now.

After climbing the stairs and a hallway later, Sakura stood in front of not only her Hokage and teachers door, but her mother figure and friends office door. With a deep breath she raised her hand and knocked softly on the door. When she heard Tsunade's muffled,"Come in!" she opened the door and waited for her teacher to look up from the paperwork in front of her.

"So, how'd the mission go?", Tsunade asked, setting down her pen and looking up to look at her pupil. She knew that lately Sakura was struggling, her student was an emotional person and she knew that the deaths of so many of her friends in the last few years had really taken its toll of the young girl.

"It was a failure...I was ambushed on my way to the clients and ended up poisoned. I didn't make it in time. I'm sorry...", Sakura whispered heart-brokenly.

"I see...", her teacher muttered, even though she knew that that was probably the case, she didn't expect her faithful student to sound so heartbroken.

"There's another thing, Shishu...", Sakura started, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She didn't know how her teacher was going to take the news of what she was going to do. But in her heart, Sakura knew this was what she wanted to do. She didn't want to be some weak little heartbroken little girl anymore. She wanted to be strong.

"Well, what is it?", her teacher asked, suddenly serious.

"I want to leave the village and be taken off of the roster. I want to go on my own journey and learn to live with the demons that haunt me. And I don't think that I will be able to do that within the confines of the village.", Sakura explained softly.

"I suppose I cannot stop you, you know I trust you. If this is what you think you need to do, I will not stop you. But you make sure to check in with me every do often, do you understand?", the blond haired Hokage sighed.

"I understand, and thank you for allowing me to do this. I will be gone by tomorrow morning. Please tell the others about what I am doing, but make sure they do not follow me. This is something I have to do by myself.", the pink haired girl said quietly,"Now if you'll excuse me, I want to visit those who have passed and then I need to pack. Thank you again Tsunade, for everything."

"I will take care of the others, do what you must do. This village will always be your home. We will be here waiting if you should ever decide to return. And if not, I will not blame you.", Tsunade said, smiling softly at the girl she had come to think of as her own child.

"Thank you...Tsunade.", Sakura said before turning and leaving the office.

After stopping the the grave sights of all of her fallen friends, Sakura made her way back home. She knew she was going to have to pack light, seeing as she was basically about to live for god knows how long as a missing-nin. Somehow the thought didn't even seem to bother her, though she didn't know why. She knew she would be put into the Bingo Book as a missing-nin but she was already accepting of that fact. Her freedom from her demons would come at a price and if that was the price she had to pay, so be it.

She grabbed a small back pack out of her closet and grabbed a few sets of clean cloths, plenty of underwear, extra bandages, her toothbrush, a comb, travel sized bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and stuffed them all into her backpack. After packing those things up, she took another bag and made her way towards the kitchen. She packed what non-perishables that she could and threw the rest in the garbage so her fridge wouldn't look like the scene out of a horror movie when someone decided to come clean out her apartment.

Once she was all packed, Sakura laid her packs next to her door and changed into her pajamas and hopped into bed. She wasn't going to bother bringing any momentos from her friends with her, it would only hold her back. She was going to get stronger, not dwell on the past. She decided that tomorrow she would start making her way towards Wave country and go from there. With a destination set in her mind, Sakura quickly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Naruto headed towards Sakura's apartment to see if she was up for some lunch today. He smiled at the people he walked past in the hallways in her apartment complex. When he reached her door, he pulled out the key she had given him when she first started living in the building and made quick work of the lock and opened the door.

The first thing he noticed was the fact that the place was empty, Sakura wasn't here. He quickly made his way through her apartment hoping to find her. When he reached her bedroom, he spotted a note on her bed, folded neatly. He picked it up and unfolded it gently before reading out loud.

"To whoever finds this,

I just wanted to thank everybody for everything they have ever done for me.

But the time has come for me to leave the village.

I want to find my own path and learn to deal with the demons that haunt my every waking moment

Please do not come after me, this is something I must do on my own

Someday we will all meet again, whether it's me coming back to the village or in the next life.

I love you all and I will see you soon

Behave yourselves.

Love,

Sakura Haruno."

Naruto lowered the letter, tears streaming down his face. He turned towards her window and make quick work of opening it and jumping out. With as much speed as he could muster, he made his way towards to Hokage tower, Tsunade would know what to do.

"Sakura, why did you have to go? Did you not realize how much we need and love you? I'm sorry I didn't realize you were so heartbroken! Please come home!'

Yay! First Chapter done! As always, review, favorite, and follow! Until next time!