Sakura let out a sniffle as she tried desperately to contain her tears. Sasuke had just turned her down, again. She had just thought that after their time in the Land of Waves, Sasuke would want to talk to someone about it...and then realise that they were clearly meant to be together and declare his hidden love for her. Was that really too much to ask?

Apparently it was, because Sasuke didn't even wait one second before saying 'never' and walking away. Why did he act like this? It was obvious that they were supposed to be a couple…not that she was insulting Sasuke's intelligence of course. She would never do that.

She was glad that she had waited until the end of their team's training session to ask Sasuke. The girl wouldn't have wanted to see him for multiple hours after being rejected like that.

Being shot down by Sasuke wasn't the only reason she had been feeling down. That mission in Wave hadn't gone well, and not just because of the missing ninja. It had shown her just how weak she really was. As much as she didn't want to admit it, what Sasuke had said to her then was true: she really was the weakest member of team 7. That meant she was weaker than Naruto, Naruto! The oaf who had always been the worst in their class. Sakura had always been one of the top, at least in the academic field. And now she was actually worse than him. She felt so ashamed, she had been so useless on that mission.

She had known for a while that she had a disadvantage against a lot of her classmates. Most of them had some kind of bloodline limit or clan specialty. She had no such thing. The Harunos were not a clan, her parents were civilians. They owned a store in the marketplace. She had come to the academy with nothing but intelligence and a drive to learn. And all these other ninjas were gifted in so many areas, how was she supposed to keep up?

Come to think of it, sometimes she wondered why she was in a fact a ninja. It had certainly come as a shock to her parents when she announced that she had wanted to enroll in the academy. Thankfully they had been supportive, but had questioned her motives as civilians rarely became shinobi. In truth, none of her reasons had been particularly good ones. It had partially been to get closer to Sasuke (while she definitely did not regret wanting to be close to him, especially after becoming his team member, she did acknowledge that it was not the best reason for choosing an extremely dangerous career). Her other two reasons both revolved around how she had been bullied before. She had wanted to be able to stand up to her bullies (which had been civilians) and becoming a ninja seemed like a good way to do that. Also, Ino the girl who had always stuck up for her, was going to be a ninja and Sakura had wanted to be close to the blond.

Once she made it in, Sakura's reasons altered (at least the latter two did, since the bullies had moved onto other targets and she had ended her friendship with Ino in place for a rivalry). She had taken the process of becoming a shinobi on as a challenge. And she had begun to enjoy learning about chakra and the like. By the time she graduated, she had decided that a ninja was a fitting role for her.

But after the mission on Wave, she just felt unsure. She had searched herself for motivation, reason to continue this career, this life. Sakura had failed to think of anything that would make everything worth it…

Her thoughts were interrupted when she almost walked into someone. "Oh! I'm sorry," she said automatically. Nice one Sakura, she told herself, what a great ninja you are. The person did not say anything. Upon closer examination, the person was a boy around her age. He had red hair and a tattoo on his forehead. His eyes…they seemed hard, closed off from everyone. There was something…off about him.

He did not respond to her words. "Are you alright?" she asked him.

Again, he did not respond. "Okay…well I'm going to go. Have a nice day," she told him before taking off in another direction.

After a few moments she looked back, he was gone. The girl couldn't prevent a chill that moved through her body. The guy had a dangerous aura. And he had definitely not been friendly.

Sakura turned back and continued on her way home. Still, there had been something else about that boy. What was it? Her eyes widened as she figured it out and she stopped suddenly, causing the person behind her to yelp. Although his eyes had been dark, there had been something hidden away. Something that she was only able to detect because she had felt the same thing herself before.

It was loneliness.

Hello everyone, it has been a while. I admit that I haven't been in a writing mood for while. I'm hoping that this fic will get me 'back into it' (instead of doing the smart thing and updating my old fics before starting something new).

As the first chapter implies, this is going to be Gaa/Saku, as well as a Sakura growth fic.

So...that manga ending (if you don't want to know anything about it, stop reading here). Was not a fan. I could go on for a while about why I was not a fan of it (or the last big chunk of the series for that matter), but I'd probably rant for quite a while I don't have time to do so right now :P. However I will say one of my biggest dislikes *ducks away from pairing fans*: apparently nothing says 'I love you' more than neglect, abuse and becoming a deadbeat dad. There's a reason why I can honestly say that I now prefer fanfics wayyy more than the actual manga (not just for the reason above).

With all that said, I hope you all enjoy this fic.