#1

When she was young, Sakura loved pink, ribbons, her hair and her dresses, everything most girls in general loved. That, of course, included boys. She was just born.

#2

In that split second Sasuke jumped in front of her to take the hit, Sakura realized just how impractical she was. She grew up.

#3

At 12, when she got the feeling that dear Sasuke-kun would try to leave the village that night, she declared her love for him, in the hopes that it would mean something, anything to the Uchiha, that it would make him stay. It didn't work. And just before Sasuke knocks her out, she thinks that she really needs to get stronger. She became a teenager.

#4

On her 15th birthday, she is so much stronger than before, she reflects. But still not enough, not enough to stop both Sasuke and Naruto from leaving, Sakura thinks bitterly. She resolves to become the perfect shinobi. She has matured.

#5

And at 17, she is hailed a genius, rivaled only by the likes of Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi. The Godaime Hokage looks sadly at the retreating (lonely, sad, confused) back of her (once) apprentice; Sakura is finally the perfect shinobi she has longed to be, but the Godaime Hokage wishes it wasn't at the price of her soul. She is now aware of the world's evil; she is now a woman.

But the story hasn't ended.

#6

The next year, the whole village rejoices, for their favorite orange-clad ninja has returned, along with the prodigal son (traitor, her mind tells her). They meet, by sheer coincidence, in the Hokage's office; she is covered in blood, her face and voice betraying no emotion whatsoever; she has just returned from a particularly difficult mission. They are even more shocked to find she has already made it into ANBU, the rank that so many had been unable to attain; they are still mere genin. After hearing her report and ordering her to get some rest, the Hokage dismisses her. When she returns home (there is no such thing anymore), she doesn't even cry, because she has already lost her soul. She no longer feels anything. By now, she has become an adult.

#7

And on the day she is supposed to turn 20, Naruto and Sasuke declare that they are gay, together, and they still expect her, any day now, to turn back into the old (weak) Sakura they once knew. Naruto longs for Team Kakashi again, but Sai is dead, Yamato is dead, Kakashi spends his time immersed in missions and while Sakura is alive and actually spends quite some time in the place she calls (but never will be) home, she is soulless; mentally dead. Because how can we be Team Kakashi again, if you can't even remember what today is supposed to be? A bitter thought crosses Sakura's mind, but she squashes it before she is born again from the ashes of who she used to be.

(But when Naruto and Sasuke goes to the Hokage to find a way for either one of them to conceive, Sakura overhears, and the very next day, a dusty-looking scroll (like it has been sitting on someone's shelf for too long) appears on the Hokage's desk with a familiar handwriting within it that clearly states how it would be possible for a man to carry another man's child. With this, the Hokage can't help but hope that maybe, just maybe Sakura can be reborn.)

But without a doubt, her soul cannot be found again. She. Is. Dead.

#8

Nine years down the road, Naruto is now the Hokage and a war is brewing between Konoha and the twice-accursed Sound. Sasuke is his queen and Sakura is his knight; Kakashi the other knight. And when Sakura orders everyone to retreat back into the (relatively) safe walls of Konoha, leaving her alone behind, she goes down fighting all the way. And when she is about to die, with her very last breath, she detonates half the forest of Konoha with explosives she'd planted earlier, effectively wiping out whatever that was left of Sound's army that she hadn't had the privilege to take down when she lived. So when Karasu, Sakura's summons, passes on Sakura's last words (this is the way it was meant to be, the way I want it) to everyone waiting anxiously in the Hokage's office for word of Sakura and tells them, she died with a smile on her face, Kakashi just stuffs his hands into his pockets and cries silently into his mask, because he wasn't a good teacher. Naruto cries and throws a tantrum, because he wasn't a good enough brother. Sasuke just sits and stares blankly at the wall, telling himself it couldn't be and wishing he could have reciprocated her love, because he wasn't good enough to deserve it. Ino breaks down in front of everyone, for once in her life uncaring about her appearance and regrets everything, because she wasn't a best friend. But the Godaime Hokage Tsunade smiles sadly yet happily and wipes away her tears with new determination, because she understands. Because Sakura was now finally where she belonged.

She was at peace.

People keep saying that Team Seven was spectacular. The Copy-nin, known to have copied over a thousand jutsu, the kyuubi brat who was also the son of the great hero the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato, and the last living Uchiha, Uchiha Sasuke who was a prodigy in his own way. These were the people who came to mind when people talked about the legendary Team Seven. Strangely, the beautiful pink-haired woman who had sacrificed everything she ever had in order to protect the ones she loved, who was also, unquestionably a shinobi of the highest caliber, with the finest chakra control known to man, was never mentioned. Nobody remembered her.

But there were rumours within some of the clans. The Uchiha clan, the Yamanaka clan and the Hatake clan members had told of a legendary warrior, the best of the best, who had defended Konoha all alone from the threat of Sound, and had defeated them with her final breath.

She was a woman. She had pink hair, green eyes and was named Haruno Sakura.

The End.