It was October 10th and Sakura's family had brought her to the Kyuubi festival. She had been dressed in a white yukata with emerald and pink sakura trees. Her parents were so original. Her mother had told her that she would enjoy the festival and fireworks, but so far it had just been loud crowds of people and lots of walking. She observed the people around her quickly spotting the shinobi in civilian clothes. It wasn't very difficult because the shinobi never seemed to be able to move and act quite like civilians. She had made a game out of it. See how many shinobi she could spot around her. It had become more of a habit now. She scanned every room she walked into and was able to easily spot those who weren't civilians.
"Is there anything I can do for you little one?" The lady at the dango stand asked her. Sakura quickly looked around and couldn't find her parents. This had happened before. Sometimes her parents would just forget about her and walk away. She shook her head at the dango lady before bowing and walking away to try and find her parents.
She made her way through the crowd, easily slipping under and through people because of her height. Scanning the area she couldn't find her parent's distinct hair, but her eye was caught on a group of villagers running into the woods. That was odd behavior. She had only seen people act this way when they were drunk, but this seemed different by the way they were acting. They seemed under the influence, but also angry, almost malicious.
In a very rare occurrence, Sakura let her curiosity get the better of her and made her way into the woods, making sure not to be seen by the villagers. As she got closer she realized that the mob was chasing something. She ran as fast her legs would carry her to try and see what they were after, but her four-year-old legs were not up for the job and she quickly got left behind.
She tripped on a root and fell to the ground. After a moment of laying there, she flipped onto her back and stared at the stars. How pathetic was she, she couldn't keep up with drunks and even managed to trip. And get her yukata dirty. Her mom was going to be mad. Why had she let her curiosity get the better of her? She knew she was supposed to do as she was told and nothing more. She rose off the ground and looked around trying to find the way back to the festival.
Just then, she heard a groan coming from behind her. She turned towards the noise but hesitated. She had already made one mistake by following the crowd and all that lead to was getting dirty and trouble when she got back to her parents. As she turned back towards the festival determined to ignore it, she heard a loud whimper. She paused once again before finally giving in and walking towards the noise.
The sight that greeted her made her stomach lurch. Before her was a little boy, probably the same age as her, covered in blood. Blood that was obviously his own judging by the number of wounds he was covered in, especially the giant gash he had on his side. It seemed like he was going to bleed out. Sakura froze in fear. Had the villagers done this? Who could do this to a child, someone the same age as her?
She was broken out of her downward spiral by the sound of the boy starting to cry. She quickly rushed forward and reached for him, trying to help. As soon as he saw her he flinched. This caused her to pause. She didn't know how to tell him she wasn't going to hurt him. She slowly reached forward again, this time watching him the whole time, like approaching a wounded animal. She placed her hand on top of his head and gently ruffled his hair. This was the way her dad would tell her she did good, her mom always got mad that it would mess up her hair, but it always made her feel happy. The boy looked up at her with his big blue eyes and she was suddenly hit with a feeling of anger at anyone who could hurt this boy. She had no idea how to help him but she wanted to help him somehow. She slowly reached forward to inspect the gash, but there was only a small cut. She could have sworn that was where all the blood was coming from.
All of a sudden, the boy went limp and Sakura quickly caught him before his head hit the ground. What had just happened? What was she supposed to do next? She had never been in a situation like this before. A boy bleeding out, but then not bleeding out. Her head started to turn foggy and she felt her eyes start to close on their own. She fell to the ground, the boy falling next to her. The last thing she saw before she passed out was a man in a mask, an Inu painted on it.