The Sun, The Moon, The Stars

Prologue

Time

Time is a cruel thief to rob us of our former selves. We lose as much to life as we do to death.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I do own the events I add into it and any OC's, and if I did own Naruto, Sakura would have had more character development and a bigger role!

Pain.

It pulsed through her body demanding to be known, and not forgotten.

Failure.

She had failed, completely, and utterly let everyone down.

Naruto

It was worse than the pain shredding through her body, knowing that she had failed him. Her fingers dug into the ground, dirt burying itself under her nails.

She had to get up!

Blood leaked into her eyes, she couldn't remember when she had hurt her head. The gash that must have been there was deaf to her body, she couldn't feel it. The gap in her chest pulled all of her attention to it. It begged to be known, demanded all of her attention.

Coughing her eyes rolled up to the sky, the stars twinkled down at her, dancing across a midnight canvass. Small gasps left her lips as she could feel the blood building in her throat. The coppery taste causing her to want to gag.

The smell of death was in the air, trying to drown out everything around her.

How could she leave him like this?

Naruto. Please forgive me.

Her vision had begun to blur as her will to sit up slowly diminished. Her strength, the thing she was famous for, just like Tsunade-shishou, whispered from her body. Leaving her frail and weak in its wake.

How could this have happened?

It wasn't supposed to end like this. Naruto was supposed to have won like always, she was supposed to have his back, like she had promised.

Another round of coughing wracked through her body, the hole in her chest spasmed with the motion causing her body to tense.

She should be dead. The only thing keeping her alive was the dot on her forehead, slowly leaking Chakra throughout her body constantly trying to heal the wound but never enough.

She was going to die.

A laugh escaped her lips, coming out as more of a gasp then the sound of happiness.

This wasn't how she had thought to go. Though if she was speaking the truth she hadn't really expected to die anytime soon, Naruto was supposed to become Hokage and lead them into peace.

This was wrong.

Her reaching fingers hit something cold, flesh, it wasn't moving.

Tears built up in her eyes, her head slowly moved side to side.

Denial.

It rushed through her veins, settling over her mind like fog. Her eyes itched to look to her left, her fingers digging into the cold flesh. Refusal met this wish, she couldn't look.

Another wave of pain caused her eyes to slide shut, baring her teeth against it. There wasn't much more time.

Peace.

The thought that she wouldn't be in this world for much longer brought her a strong sense of relief. Her hold on the hand next to her tightened.

Something in her soul refused to let the hand go.

Even though her eyes refused to see who she was holding onto, she knew. It was undeniable, but she would continue to believe she didn't know.

Footsteps crunched off in the distance announcing the arrival of someone new.

She had been by herself since the hand gouged through her chest leaving her empty and alone on the cold ground. Her eyes refused to leave the stars to glance over. She couldn't find it within herself to care.

The footsteps hurried, their pace quickening, she could feel the familiar Chakra brush against her own quickly descending Chakra. Black eyes were the first thing her blurry eyes made out, as they took over the stars. A groan of displeasure caught in her throat, barely escaping from the confines of her mouth.

The man worriedly began to speak above her. With her free hand she tried to swat him away.

She just wanted to die while looking at the stars. They twinkled so peacefully and hung beautifully above her. It would be the perfect last image.

Her hand fell short, barely even lifting from the dirt. A pale hand reached out to grab her own, pulling up to them as they continued to yell above her.

Green eyes scrunched in annoyance, but her ears refused to listen, they couldn't make out what the man was saying. She tried focusing on his face, her mind had grown fuzzy, it was hard to remember now.

"I-I –ow –ou," the words were garbled, distorted from the blood leaking from her lips. The man reached forward to cup her face lifting her body forward only to hesitate when a hoarse scream was ripped from her lips.

"Sakura," the quiet voice called out, she was able to focus with the pain bringing her back. It cleared her head the fog lifting.

"Sai," the name left her in a whisper, another wave of relief flooding her senses. He was alive unlike so many others. That was enough.

"You need to listen," he said urgently. "It's time. Do you understand?"

She stared up at him wide eyed, her eyes beginning to glaze over again but she tried staying conscious.

Listen

Her mind tried too but only half of his words were sticking. Sai lightly shook her trying not to hurt her but to clear her head.

"You've got to go back." He bit his thumb allowing the blood to spring forward as he leaned over the pink-haired Kunoichi and began to draw the seal on her body. "Stay with me Sakura, I'm almost done, you have to stay alive."

She stared up at him, the hand that held the cold skin still stayed latched onto it. Something wouldn't let her let it go. Her head refused to look in it's direction still.

"I –el –eak." Her voice was still garbled her free hand gripping the material of Sai's pants. She had to tell him she could feel it, her Chakra running out, the only thing keeping the wound from completely killing her.

Death was close.

She could feel it.

"Just hold on," Said said as he finished that last few lines. "I'm almost done. Tsunade said this would work, she taught me, I can send you back. You can change everything."

Sakura allowed her eyes to drift back to the stars, she could feel when he drew the last line.

"You'll go back to right before everything happens, when you become a genin," Sai said his face twisted up into remorse. He had gotten better at showing his emotions, there had been too much death not too. Light began to emit from her chest, from the seal he had placed on her.

She could feel the world blur around her, the pain in her head exploding.

Her body felt light.

Sakura could feel the pull, could feel her consciousness begin to fade away.

Desperately her eyes slid to the body next to her. She had to see him one more time.

Green eyes clashed with blue, but a smile lifted her lips.

She had seen him one last time.

"Stay safe Sakura," Sai said as he grasped her free hand in his own.

She gripped it tightly latching onto him for dear life as she felt the seal begin to drag her in. The fog in her mind clouding her thoughts, she began to drift away.

Her vision blurred.

She couldn't see Sai's face anymore.

The stars still twinkled brightly above her before they too faded to enough.

Hey guys! So this is just the prologue I'm in the process of writing the next chapter but wanted to put this out there and see what kind of feedback I get!

I know there's lots of Sakura time travel stories out there but I wanted to try my hand at it. For a warning this story will deviate from Canon from time to time, there will be many AU things that belong in my story but not in the Naruto Universe. I'm taking my creative license and running wild with it!