Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This is for me to expand on my writing abilities, and for the amusement of others. Nothing more, and nothing less.
Summary: When someone's heart breaks, so does a piece of our world; this creates fissures, valleys, and even cracks in the pavement. For Sakura, her Inner Personality was the other side across the distant canyon in her mind. But in the valley below—down below is where the monster slumbered…
Pairings: N/A
Drabble Fic: I just wanted to look at a different perspective for Sakura's Inner Personality, and the possibility that there was more to it was an idea that should be explored in the fanfic verse.

The Monster Sleep

By ThroughtheMirrorDarkly

Haruno Sakura was sometimes scared of her own mind.

The once glorious terrain had been like the grassy knolls, filled with wonder and life—filled with potential, but bad things happened and people have to adapt. Cold homes birth broken children, and Sakura was no different, hiding behind her smile and her intelligence. She clawed and fought for every inch while others sprinted ahead by miles, and she got tired of watching everyone surge ahead while she could barely keep up. The meager meals at home not enough to build muscle mass, just enough to keep hunger at bay and a malnourished body couldn't promote growth in her chakra coils. She had learned this from the books at the library when she struggled with the ninjutsu at the Academy.

But then everything changed, Sakura thought, scrubbed the dirt on her face off with a warm wet rag. The shampoo she hoarded away underneath her floorboard sat her feet. It was dog shampoo that she had managed to buy with the money she had gotten for her birthday money from Ino, and it had been clearance cheaper than the regular shampoos. A bottle of perfume—too strong—used to help mask the smell when they couldn't afford to pay the water bill and couldn't go to the public baths because momma didn't want anyone to see her bruises. She had to make that money stretch out as far as she could because her parents wouldn't spend any money on taking care of her, instead spending it on their habits—her father gambled, and her mother drank. And one day, things got very bad.

Shattering glass, a scream broken by a solid smack, blood splattered across the floor, and Sakura learned what hatred was. She hadn't seen daddy since that night, and the dark circles underneath her momma's eyes grew worse with each passing day. And there was a smell that came from the basement. It was of death and deep in her heart, Sakura knew where daddy had gone. Some days, she was grateful because it was one less person to tiptoe around. Other days, she wished it was momma down there because the woman's rages and beatings were worse than her father's indifferences.

But Sakura put on a smile, did her best at school and no one even guessed that things were unwell at home.

The mask was difficult—getting more difficult. The more she wore the mask and hid inside of it, the vast lands of her mind suffered and became distorted. There had always been a canyon in her mind, but the fissure grew larger and larger with each new trauma that piled up on her shoulders. That's what happens, Sakura reasoned. When someone's heart breaks, so does a piece of our world; this creates fissures, valleys, and even cracks in the pavement.

Across the distant canyon in her mind, there lived Inner. Her 'Inner Personality' that voiced all her thoughts without filter, that held onto all the pain and anger so Sakura could get through the day unscathed. That's where all her secret wants and dreams went, too. Like her crush on Sasuke, it had to go there, too. Sakura had to be focused on her schooling and graduating, becoming the best shinobi that she could be. Inner was still a welcomed friend inside of her mindscape, who appeared roughly after a 'family' trip took them out of the village for six months about seven years ago.

But not all things were welcomed, there was her unwanted guest. There down in the darkness of the canyon, the valley below where nothing good could grow.

Down below is where the monster slumbered…

And it had teeth.

Sakura was one day afraid she was going to be caught in-between those teeth, and crushed up, and chewed up, and spit out.

She pulled on her red dress— her only good outfit without holes or tears—quaking hands, trying to bit back the fear that bubbled up in her throat like white hot oil. Running her fingers through her long hair and fixing her hitae on her head, Sakura put on a smile. It was small and tiny, her lips quivered just a fraction but it was a genuine as her fingers traced the leaf symbol on her forehead. This headband was her hope, all her pain and suffering would be worth it because she was a ninja and she had a team—maybe not the best team, but a team! A team was like a family, Iruka-sensei had once said and that they had to watch each others' backs no matter what.

Sakura walked out of the front door, with her hopes high.

She hoped her new family would help her get rid of her fears and that monster with all its teeth would never reach her.

Little did she know, her new family would teach her how to use them.

END OF DRABBLE! I have no plans of continuing this into a longer fic, but as soon as I read the prompt, this is where my mind took it. :D
Author's Note: Am I implying that Sakura has become a jinchūriki? Yes, sort of. Whether you want to believe someone put one in her unknowingly during the trip out of the village with her family, to pay off her father's debts. Or that the cracks in her mind and fractures in her chakra have given birth to a new tailed beast, you can decide. How can Sakura create a tailed beast? The mind is what it perceives, and chakra is a life force. Her mind being damaged by trauma has given her a new perceptive, alter her reality enough to give rise to this.
Reviews are welcomed! :D