'Thoughts'
10 years ago:
A little girl with short pink hair was bouncing up and down on her parent's bed as she watched her dad pack for a new mission, "Tou-san when will you be back?"
The man turned and smiled at his daughter, "You never know with these types of missions, but I'll be home as soon as I can be." The little girl nodded as her father turned back to his pack, she did a flying jump and landed on her father's back with a squeal of delight. He grunted under the new weight and smiled when he heard his daughter's laughter, "Alright, now settle down, I need to finish getting ready."
"Okay tou-san." she said into his dark red hair and climbed down his back, "but be safe on your mission, you said you'd help me with my taijutsu." She crossed her arms and nodded her head with the final word. The man laughed at her serious expression and finished packing.
When finished he turned and saw the girl standing in the middle of the room, bouncing on her heels, smiling up at him. He walked over to her and picked her up and placed her on his shoulders, "come on let's go see if kaa-san has finished with breakfast." They made their way downstairs where they heard the sound of food cooking and dishes hitting each other. Inside the kitchen was a petite woman with mid-back pink hair, who turned around and smiled at them.
"If it isn't my two favorite people in the world." the woman said smiling up at the two. The little girl laughed as her father took her off his shoulders and ran to her mother wrapping her small arms around the woman's waist.
"Kaa-san," the little girl called, "Tou-san's going on another mission!"
The woman laughed, "I know Saku-chan, I'm going on the mission as well, and so I made a big breakfast for all of us."
Saku-chan stared in amazement, "Really, how come you have to go to?"
"Well, the team needed a medic," she said, "and as a medic I have to help out when I'm asked to." Saku-chan thought about something, "What does a medic do?"
Her mother looked thoughtful, "Well some work at the hospitals and some work in the field with other ninjas," she began as she set the table with the help of her husband, "Quite a few do both like I do but we all do the same thing."
"What's that?" Saku-chan asked with wide eyes.
The woman smiled down at her, "We all help people who are injured and help them recover, even if we don't like them." As she said that she turned to her husband and glared at him, "Isn't that right honey?" Saku-chan tuned to her father who laughed weakly at his wife's accusation.
"What happened?" she asked curiously. Her mother continued glaring at her husband, who rubbed his head nervously, "Well?"
"Tou-san was not always nice to me, little one." her mother announced, "He wouldn't let me treat him because he 'thought' that he would catch a weakness from a weak kounoichi."
"Hey, I did apologize," he countered, "didn't I?"
The woman scoffed, "Yeah right after you realized I could punch a hole right through your chest." Saku-chan giggled at her parent's argument, catching their attention. They both smiled at her, "Well let's eat!" her father announced.
A FEW DAYS LATER:
Saku-chan was in her living room looking out the window, waiting for her parents to come home. A sudden knock on the front door had the small girl running to greet them. she opened the door with a big smile, only to find two strangers with stony faces at the door. "U-um, hello?" she asked out timidly. The two strangers looked down at her with cold eyes making her shiver.
"Haruno Sakura, daughter of Haruno Fujin and Haruno Nadeshiko?" one of them asked, Saku-chan nodded shakily in confirmation. The two looked at each other and one bent down to look at her in the eyes, she flinched as he reached behind him and pulled something from his pouch. He presented it to her and said with a saddened voice, "We're sorry but you parents were MIA and KIA during the mission."
Saku-chan's eyes widened at what was said, her parents had told her before what those awful words were. "No, no they can't be, no!" She looked down at the object the two strangers gave her, it was her mothers head band with a long cut going through the leaf symbol. She brought the head band to her face and rubbed it to her cheek as she began to cry, "No! They said they would come back!" She looked up at the two with tear filled eyes, "NO! THEY TOLD ME THEY WOULD BE BACK!!!"
