A/N: This story was inspired by PuppiesxRxKawaii's story "[:|The Raven and the Crow: |Itachi| Storytelling |Uchiha| (Chapter 1)|:]" and the song "Mad World" by Micheal Andrews. And no, the Sakura in the story is not Haruno Sakura, Sakura is just a girl's name and I wanted it to be easy to tell whether the kid was a boy or a girl.

~*~

anyone lived in a pretty how town

(with up so floating many bells down)

spring summer autumn winter

he sang his didn't he danced his did.



The air was cool and still that night. Wind whistled through the trees, gently rustling the leaves. The velvety sky, inky blue-black, was dotted by countless stars. A full moon hung in the sky, washing the earth in its silver light. Small nocturnal animals went about their usual business, creating only the slightest of noises.

A figure moved through the trees, lithely jumping from branch to branch. As the figure darted across a patch of moonlight, a piece of metal glinted, briefly flashing liquid silver in the pale light. The piece of metal was a shinobi headband.

The shinobi paused suddenly, head cocked to one side. The shinobi was clearly listening for something. After a moment, the shinobi started moving again, but in an entirely different direction than before.

Soon, another sound could be heard in the nighttime air, disturbing the sounds of the animals and the wind. The sound was of muffled sobbing, and the shinobi was headed right for it.

A small child leaned against a tree, half in the moonlight, and half in shadow. Dark pools of liquid were splattered around the child and were scattered all throughout the surrounding area. In the moonlight, the liquid looked jet black.

The shinobi stopped several feet in front of the child, disguised in a blotch of inky shadow. They watched the child for a few moments before slowly and deliberately stepping out into the open. The child instantly froze up, whimpering with fright. As the shinobi drew closer, the child retreated into the shadows of the forest.

Realizing the child's fear, the shinobi stopped. "You can come out now. I'm not going to hurt you," they said in a soft and gentle voice. To emphasize their point, the shinobi crouched low to the ground. The child stopped scooting backwards, but made no move to get any closer to the shinobi.

"It's okay," the shinobi continued. "I'm a friend. Why don't you and I walk together, and you can tell me what happened?" The shinobi's voice was cool and soft, and had a curious, musical lilt to it. Their tone of voice was comforting, almost maternal.

The child struggled with their emotions for a few minutes before throwing itself into the shinobi's outstretched arms and sobbing piteously into the shinobi's shoulder.

"There, there," soothed the shinobi, picking up the child and slowly rocking them back and forth. The shinobi stepped into a pool of moonlight, revealing soft, feminine curves. The child's body was pressed against the kunoichi's body. Violent sobs wracked the child's body. The kunoichi stroked the child's head and murmured soft words in a consolatory tone.

After the child and the kunoichi had walked a distance, and the child had stopped crying, the kunoichi spoke. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

The child sniffled. "O-okay. There were these people-"

"What's your name?" the kunoichi asked.

"Sakura," the child sniffled.

"Sakura… That's a beautiful name," the kunoichi said. "How old are you, Sakura?"

"Seven," was the slightly muffled reply.

"Seven, huh? That's a good age."

"What's your name?" Sakura asked.

The kunoichi gave a small, nostalgic smile. "Yuriko."

The two walked on for a little while, Yuriko stroking Sakura's head. As they walked, the sky darkened. Suddenly, a rumble of thunder broke the tranquil silence of the night. Rain began to fall, softly at first, but it soon came down in blinding torrents of icy cold water. Yuriko hunkered over Sakura to protect the small child from the droplets of stinging rain, but to no avail.

Yuriko cursed softly. "We'd better find shelter soon, or we're both going to be frozen solid! This isn't good!"

A single tear fell,

"Why did you have to go?"

But the rest of the plea was lost

Swept away by time's endless flow.