Standard disclaimer applies: I don't own Naruto or any related characters.

Second Chances
Chapter One

"NARUTO!"

The closing of cerulean eyes.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'll be your future Hokage one day, believe it! So, you'd better treat me with respect, or else— Oi, Sakura-chan, that hurt!"

Dreams. Vows. Shattered hopes. "Naruto, you liar…"

"Sakura-chan, you don't have to worry. I'll bring Sasuke-teme back for sure! It's the promise of a lifetime."

Unfulfilled, selfless promises.

"Hey hey, Sakura-chan. Let's go out sometime on a date, neh?"

It is too much, all too much.

I've failed you again, Naruto.

Tear-filled viridian eyes bear into crimson ones, aghast.

"No…" she whispers, half-shaking her head in disbelief. She doesn't want to acknowledge what he's done. What she thought he'd never do. She knows it is proof that the boy she loves has slipped away for good. That the genin she knew as a twelve-year old — with raven hair and soft, endless black eyes so unlike the harsh red that is staring at her now — is long dead, because the Sasuke of those times is so unlike the inhuman being standing in front of her now. The man before her is someone she does not know; a ghost of her past, a face from her distant memories; just the semblance of a teammate she was never quite able to forget. A teammate she never, ever seemed to be enough for.

"No…" she repeats again, as if trying to convince herself, but it is more weak this time. Dubiety. She wants that last reassurance, needs it to keep herself from falling apart. She wants him to deny it, to tell her she's just trapped in a cruel genjutsu of some sort, to attest that the scene that has just unraveled in front of her is unreal—

His lips twitch upward into a smirk, his Sharingan recedes. As red melts into ink-black, his eyes close momentarily as he throws his head back. And it is when his lips let loose the first sound of hysterical mirth that Sakura knows—

—knows that he will never offer her that small condolence that she so desperately needs; he's lost his sanity and he seems intent on making her lose hers.

His laugh is dark — so dark and impossibly wrong — and for a moment she stares in wide-eyed incredulity, pondering the fact that she's never heard him laugh before, but this– this amusement he seems to derive from Naruto's death, from her pain, makes her heart bleed. He's just turned her world upside down and the fact that he is entertained by it makes her clench her fists with mixed feelings of fury and betrayal.

"Don't you have a heart, Sasuke?" she bites out, as her hardly-concealed frustration and misery voice themselves. Already those damn tears have started trickling down her face.

His maniacal outburst ceases as he tilts his head mockingly to study her. He doesn't miss the way her hand is clutching the fabric of her shirt where her chest — her heart — should be. As if she's trying to keep herself from completely breaking down in his presence.

The way she holds herself is so achingly familiar that he nearly reels at the memories that come rushing back to him. How many times had she cried, this very same way, when they were Genin? He reminds himself that he hasn't seen her burst into tears for years but now that she is, the sight is so familiar he wonders if she's changed at all.

And how ironic that he is always the cause of her distress. It is like some twisted ritual that whenever they meet again, she is shedding tears — for him, because of him. He smirks cynically at the thought. He feels no remorse, no pity as he watches the salty water from her eyes drip to the floor as she refuses to meet his gaze. She has always been weak and overly-emotional. A hindrance.

"Answer me," she nearly screeches after realizing that he will not offer her an answer. "How could you—"

"Did you expect any different, Sakura?" he intones coldly. She really is getting annoying. But when she dares flash her gaze to meet his again, he realizes that the misting of her orbs is in resentment. Her emeralds are filled with something that he is all too well accustomed to – hate – but he dares say that even that is too mild a word for the emotion playing through her eyes. No, she is looking at him with what can only be described as pure loathing. It is then that he knows that the tears cascading down her cheeks are for Naruto and not for him.

Somehow, that angers him even further.

"You're a monster," she says simply, as a sudden calm and apathy overtakes her voice. Her tears are dry now and the blankness of her stare unnerves him. As if she is suddenly immune to his verbal attacks.

In a swift millisecond, the tree-branch that he was perching himself on is abandoned and he is behind her. As a rush of fury washes over him, the bloodline trait that is an inheritance from his clan activates itself once more as he sneers quietly, "Your hastiness to speak will be the end of you." Her wrist is twisted roughly and for a moment, he revels in the sickening crack of breaking bones that he hears.

She does not even whimper.

"If you insist," is all she counters with, even as the crackling of electricity draws nearer and she knows that one hit and—

"Die." Sasuke's eyes are the most ferocious bloodshot she's ever seen as she risks looking at him from over her shoulder.

She does not maneuver away from the incoming blow, even though she knows it will be fatal, even as her instincts tell her to move—

An explosion sounds just as his Chidori is about to impale her. When she is violently jerked away from Sasuke's grip, she only has time to detect a colossal chakra signature when she is thrown back by a giant force. Her head hits something hard; her vision instantly spotting from the impact of the blow. She knows she will lose cognizance soon if she does not heal the damage done to her wrist and, more importantly, to her head — but then she is distracted by Sasuke sailing midair just before he is sent flying into debris.

As something giant emerges in a puff of white smoke from the location where Naruto's body was laying last, she understands.

The seal. It has been broken.

The last horrific thought that registers in her mind is that of rampaging nine-tailed foxes and dead, dead villages before Sakura loses the battle to unconsciousness.

It is dark when Sakura opens her eyes — almost as if she hasn't woken at all, or otherwise that she has gone blind. She does not know where she is and does not care to find out; the throbbing of her head is all that preoccupies her, for the moment.

Chakra, at her command, sparks at her fingertips and she places them to her temple to steady herself. She does not bother healing all of her wounds for fear that she may need to fight again soon and would have drained all of her energy in her healing. Flashes of her confrontation with Sasuke come back to her as she dizzily gets up.

'Where am I?' she ponders. The place is oddly empty. She cannot see, cannot hear, cannot feel any presences in the horizon.

She is left alone with her thinking.

The memory of Naruto's death dredges itself up again as she painfully swallows in realization that he is really, truly gone. Reminiscing about her failure only brings Sakura's spirits down lower and so she tries to steer her thoughts elsewhere and leave the crying and brooding for tonight.

Whenever that will be — because at the moment it already looks like nightfall in the void that she seems to have landed herself in, though she cannot be sure. She does not see the sky from where she is.

Sakura starts as a voice suddenly prompts her, "Focus."

Focus…?
Focus on what?

"Memories. Your memories."

As if it is the most natural thing in the world, her eyelashes flutter to a close and everything slides into sharp focus, as if she is reliving it.

Don't you have a heart, Sasuke?

Recent. That recollection is recent and fresh in her mind. She does not want to remember, does not want to see it.

"Happy ones. Happy memories… think of them."

Her mind races back quickly. It is easy to think of those times. She has been thinking of them often, recently. Memories of when she was happy. When she had a friends.

When I still hadn't lost them both...

Those times are a reminder of happy, carefree days but they are also tinged with a certain bittersweetness. The familiar melancholy that can only come from nostalgia. Longing for everything to be the same again…

"It isn't impossible, you know."

Her eyes snap open in surprise. How?

"A price. There will be a price, of course."

Sakura bites her lip. She wonders if she has gone delusional, or if she's hit her head too hard.

"Back. Go back. It's what you want, isn't it? I'll give you a year, and then… All of your memories, after those 365 days. Gone. You will return to your own time period."

Now, she's sure it's a trap. Time-travel has always been a myth. A fantasy best left for children's books.

"I'll bring you back… all you've got to assure me is… your memories."

She swallows. Trust a stranger? Someone - or something - she couldn't even see. A voice. Delirium, she must be delirious. She decides to voice her concerns. "Who…exactly, are you? I can't see you…or anything."

"You're in another dimension. Inside of me."

"That still doesn't answer my question," Sakura snaps, tired of riddles.

"You'll find out my identity soon enough."

When the pinkette doesn't give an answer, the voice prompts again, "You can go…and change everything. You can bring back Naruto, Kakashi, and Sasuke-kun."

Sakura knows she should be suspicious. Knows she is betting against all odds and knows she is risking it all.

But the words of the incognito strike home. Something that is dangerously close to hope is bubbling in her chest.

She wants to believe the ethereal force that seems to be giving her a second chance at fixing things. She knows this may be a ploy, knows she may be manipulated.

But the memories of those days resurface and flash before her eyes and it's so close she can almost taste, feel them—

I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate… I don't feel like telling you that.

I'm not gonna run away, I never go back on my word! That's my ninja way!

I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone.

Sorry I'm late kids, I got lost on the road of life.

Sasuke-kun! Want go out for dango?

It is when the words finally slip past her lips and she finds herself muttering, "I accept," that Sakura realizes she really is naïve.

A/N: Well guys, I'm back! With a new story... This is what comes out of reading too much Sailor Moon fanfiction and being bored to tears in a Physics class... Yep. Anyways, let me know what you think! I'm experimenting an idea I've had for a while now and finally got the time to write. I know it's been done before (i.e. time-travel) but I decided to go ahead with it anyways because I've already got a concrete idea of what I want from this story and where it will lead. I hope as I upload more chapters and as you read on, you'll see a theme of originality in my writing and the plot will become clearer. I've got future chapters written out already and a whole lot of twists and turns planned.

I hope you like this debut chapter and as always, reviews in the forms of critique or praise are always appreciated.