What a smart girl your daughter is. It was such a good feeling, even when she was young, and she can still remember it, the first time it happened. She had accompanied her mother to the market, and the woman who was selling vegetables was having a hard time calculating all the goods they had bought. She had been listening carefully that time, summed it all up, subtracted what her mother had bargained off, and she blurted it out. It had been so natural, so easy. The woman's coarse face lit up in admiration, ruffled her hair and said those magic words. Her mother had beamed proudly, and she found herself carrying a small bag of candies home later that afternoon.

At an age when parents should have been buying their daughters dresses and dolls, she had chosen books and pens and notebooks instead. She learned to read and write with just her mother to teach her. She learned to play the piano, the recorder, read notes and make simple compositions on her own. Sakura, you are just wonderful! Her mother would say when she showed something new she just learned. You are the most intelligent girl in the whole village. Her father would agree, beaming at her from the other end of the dinner table, looking very proud.

Then, one day, they started talking about schools.

That all-girl's school, and it's not so far away…

Dear, can we afford it?

I'm sure Sakura can get a full scholarship. Only the best go there…well, the best with money. But Sakura is going to be the best of them all, isn't she?

He winked at her. She nodded, smiling.

That night she dreamt happy dreams.

She wore a red ribbon on her hair that day. Her mother held her by the hand as they walked down the solemn stone halls. It was hard to believe that they were still in Konoha, that this was a school in Konoha. Sakura stared in wonder at the neatly-lined girls in blue pleated skirts, knee-high socks and polished black shoes. All of them looked so beautiful, so regal and very quiet. The school almost had sacredness about it. They passed by a courtyard, with a fountain in the middle and she laughed when she saw the carp swimming in the water. Her mother smiled at her.

Well, Sakura, do you like it here?

Yes, I do, very much!

She was asked to take the exam. She found it fairly easy. She talked to the principal of the school, a kindly old man who owned lots of books. Before they left, he smiled and said to her mother, "I think you should already start trying out our uniform, Haruno-san."

Can we see the fish again, okaasan? At the fountain.

She laughed, of course, Sakura. She smiled fondly at her daughter. You made me very proud today, Sakura.

She almost didn't hear it, because she was already running across the courtyard towards the fountain. It struck her again how quiet the school was, how different from the bustling world outside her house. All she could hear was the sound of her own feet, echoing…and then stopping.

There was another little girl standing by the fountain. A girl her age, with dark eyes and even darker hair. She was wearing the school uniform, and was so pretty. Sakura suddenly felt very shy.

"Hello." The girl said. "What's your name?"

Sakura never gave her an answer.

A sudden explosion drowned everything else.

She had seen this on television before, one evening as she waited for her parents to come home. Ready, get set, go. They were absolutely still. And then they steadied. And then they were gone.

Lying on her back, Sakura wondered where the sky was. The gray smoke seemed to be all around her, and she was breathing it in too.

"Sakura!"

Okaasan…I'm here…please find me…

Don't leave me here too long…

"SAKURA!"

Okaasan…

She couldn't move, and in a while, she knew she would forget how to breathe. And then the gray clouds began to move. A shadow, which eventually solidified into a figure. A mask…she knew what it was, knew about them a long time ago, ever since her mother made threats about the ANBU coming to punish her if she ever she did not follow what she was told to do.

Later that afternoon she went to the library and studied about the ANBU, and all she could understand about them were that they wore animal masks. Everything else was puzzling to her. What did they do, exactly? Why should they punish her?

She felt herself being lifted, felt someone feel her pulse, heard someone say, wake up, wake up. Your mother is looking for you. Stay with me.

Hold on.

She still has the ribbon she wore that day, tucked away in a secret corner, ragged and dirty. She could remember no more of that day even if she tried to. The next thing she did remember was waking up in a hospital, with her tired-looking parents at her side, her mother hugging her, crying.

The explosion was due to a kidnapping attempt on one of the students of the school, the young heiress of a very wealthy businessman. She was not of Konoha, but from another country, hidden away as to prevent any attempts to snatch her away. Apparently, the secret didn't last so long. But what is one to expect, in this world of shinobi? Later on still, she learned that it was the dark-haired girl by the fountain who was the one kidnapped, but they were also able to retrieve her, that same day.

That day, too, she began having dreams of the one who lifted her from the debris. She could not remember anything about him, even when he took off his ANBU mask to make sure that she was alright, couldn't remember anything other than his sad, dark eyes. Young as she was, she knew what she wanted, knew that she was a different person. She wanted to be like him, find her way back to him.

Years later, it all made sense, falling into place. Finally, as he raises his eyes to her, waving a hand casually, smiling for the first time.

"Yo."

Author babbling:

I don't know why, but I like Sakura so much. She could have been easily the annoying cliché female in the anime (I'm sure a lot of people think of her that way too), but the fact that she acknowledges her weaknesses, and makes an effort to change that makes her different, very different.

Thanks fo reading!