So I have another one. An AU multi-fic. I hope you like it!

Prologue

Uzumaki Naruto.

That name doesn't mean much to a lot of people, but to me, it means everything.

Miss Karin says I'm not old enough to use that term so easily, but I know that his importance in my life won't decrease even after a hundred-no, a thousand years.

My first friend. My best friend. Uzumaki Naruto.

Meeting him resulted in me making my first promise of a lifetime.

"Do you think...do you think we'll have to stay here forever?"

The boy with the bright hair, and an even brighter smile, whose kindness brought him nothing but pain.

"I'll get you out of here. Even if I have to slay a thousand monsters, we'll get out. You and me. Together."

She was running as fast as her little feet could carry her, whimpering at the blisters forming because of the torture her body was being put through.

Mommy-I can't-

The faint voices closing in spurred her on, even as she wiped helplessly at the tears flowing down her cheeks. She couldn't let them catch her. They would make her bleed-just like mommy. She tightened her fist around the rock nestled safely inside it.

HELP.

Her mommy had told her to run. She sobbed at the last memory she had of her mother, covered in blood and smiling lovingly at her.

HELP ME.

They were the monsters she'd been scared of for so long. Her mother had assured her time and again that they weren't real, but they were and they took her away.

Mommy can't protect me anymore.

She was on her own.

She stumbled out of the treeline and fell to her knees, panting heavily, defeated and devastated.

I'm sorry.

She refused to look up as footsteps approached the spot where she kneeled, having given up at last.

"Are you lost, little girl?"

Head snapping up at the question, she stared at the friendly looking man in front of her, dressed in a plain green tunic and brown pants.

Normal. He was not one of them-

"He-help, please mister!" Sakura rasped out as she grabbed onto his legs. "They killed my mommy-the monsters-they're coming!" She shook uncontrollably as the man looked at her thoughtfully, unable to see the strange gleam in his eyes.

"Your mother is dead? What about your father?" He raised a brow when she shook her head. No father, then.

"What's your name, kid?"

"Sakura."

He smiled down at her.

"Sakura, why don't you come with me?"

He stood in front of the window, watching and waiting, nibbling on the piece of bread he'd snagged from the kitchen when Miss Anko wasn't looking.

But then again, she always looked the other way. That's why he likes her so much.

He paused as a figure approached his home, shoving the rest of the bread into his mouth when he recognised the approaching figure. He chewed as fast as he could as he ran towards the front door, opening it and then gaping at the sight before him, not even wincing when he was shoved to the side and his back hit the wall.

He continued to watch as the man who'd shoved him aside dropped a small figure to the ground. His heart clenched with sympathy and fear.

"Oi, Anko!" The grumpy looking man called out, well, grumpily. A purple haired woman rushed into the room, wiping her hands across her apron, eyes widening when she saw the new addition to their home.

"New kid. Found her in the forest. You know the drill," he muttered and walked off towards the hallway on the left.

The little boy waited till the man had slammed the door of his room shut before scampering over to the girl lying in the middle of the room. He crouched down beside her head and ran a hand through his golden hair, and reached out, hesitating a little before placing his hand on her shoulder.

He swallowed at the striking green orbs that stared back at him when she finally opened her eyes, wondering how he could make her feel better.

He had no idea that after the terror she'd felt ever since she first woke up that day, it was a relief to open her eyes and see kind blue eyes instead of monsters or normal looking but secretly-evil men. She wondered if the oceans her mother had described to her once were as blue as the gems she was looking at now.

She'd never forget how the warm hand felt on her cold and bruised body.

Sakura would do anything to keep that warmth with her forever.

Let me know what you think!