I don't own Naruto and I wish I owned Sakura.

SAKURA FOREVER

I don't own the album The Unforgiving by Within' Tempatation either.

Episode 1: Why Not Me?

"Though some may call it a curse, a life like mine. Others, a blessing. It's certainly a lonely life. But a fulfilling one at best. Someone has to take a stand against evil in this world. Why should it not be me?"

An instant. That's all it took for Sakura's entire world to burn down. An instant. She and Kakashi could only stare as Naruto and Sasuke were struck down by Madara Uchiha. Gazing upon it she couldn't really believe what she saw. But it was still there it still happened. They were dead. Kakashi stared before falling onto the ground and weeping. All hope and all willpower drained from her body and she fell to her knees in complete shock a number of memories came flooding back to her.

Team 7 on the rooftop.

Innocence

The bell test where she messed up so miserably.

Struggle

Wave where she only stood there guarding Tazuna with a kunai.

Weakness

Her protecting Sasuke and Naruto in the Chunin Exams.

Pathetic

Her fight with Ino.

Nostalgia

Her wanting to go with Sasuke as he left the village.

Useless

So many painful memories. So many times where she did NOTHING and Naruto and Sasuke got hurt. She felt a single tear fall from her eye. Then another, and another, and another, until she was crying. Naruto, the blonde idiot who always smiled. Sasuke, the pain-filled revenge seeker she hated loving. So many hardships so many failures.

Naruto returning to the village.

Resolve

The second bell test.

Victory

Defeating Sasori of the AKATSUKI with Lady Chiyo.

Strength

Her realizing how lost Sasuke was and willing to kill him so Naruto wouldn't have to.

Determined

Joining forces with the rest of the Konoha 11 to take down the Bijuu.

Future

Sasuke finally returning and them fighting together again against Madara.

Team 7

No, no. She began to stand up and wiped the tears from her face. They'd come so far, fought so hard. She'd be damned to HELL if she let it end here. She wouldn't let Naruto's dream Sasuke's lost love go to waste. She wouldn't let their paths get ruined. Not here not now not ever. She and Kakashi were al that was left all that stood between Madara and the world. Sasuke and Naruto lost their lives trying to save this world! Even if they couldn't do it for them they'd at least fight for them! "Get up, Kakashi-sensei. Are you going to let your students die in vain!?" She asked him. Kakashi looked up at her shocked. "You've been doing nothing but sitting on your ass, crying nearly your whole life!" she continued, "It's about time you got up off of it and actually DO something!" She was upright now, holding her fists out just in front of her face ready to fight again as if nothing happened. Kakashi looked up at Sakura. The student who'd grown to become so strong. She was right. He'd been nothing but baggage for years now. About time he did something about that. So, he followed suit, taking out a kunai in the process.

Madara smirked. "Well, I have to say- I'm impressed," he told them, "Mere moments ago both of you were weeping at your last hopes getting struck down. Now, you're standing up, as if the fight just started, ready to rip my lungs out. I applaud your resolve." His smirk faded and his face was back to being that of a blood-thirsty killer, "Unfortunately it will take more than resolve to beat me." He made a few hand signs and launched the Goukyaku no Jutsu at the two Shino They both jumped back far enough to dodge. As Madara came out of the fireball Kakashi threw the kunai which Madara easily swatted away. Until he realized there was an explosive tag on it and it blew up in his face. Using the distraction Sakura performed an Earth Jutsu that smushed Madara between two pieces of earth that came out of the ground. "Kakashi-sensei cover me!" Sakura yelled. Kakashi nodded and when Madara busted out of the rocks Kakashi ran at him with a Lightning Cutter. It was pretty dangerous to use it without the Sharingan but IT WAS THE END OF THE GOD DAMN PLANET! Personal safety wasn't an issue here. Back to the fight, Kakashi swung numerous times at Madara using some standard kick to where he could. Madara though just kept dodging over and over again. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye Kakashi noticed a foreboding spark coming from the Lightning Cutter. Kakashi's eyes widened in realization as he lost control of it and the feedback ripped through his arm completely rendering it useless. Using the opening (not that he actually needed it) Madara grabbed Kakashi by the face and threw him all the way across the battlefield. Madara turned towards Sakura to see that her fists were breaming with chakra. Time had begun to slow down for the young Kunoichi. She'd put everything she had into it. There was this one last strike. It all depended on this one last blow. Letting out a small breath time picked back up for Sakura and she charged sending the punch flying at Madara who simply responded in kind with a chakra enhanced strike of his own. Just as their fists were about to collide though Black Zetsu sprung up from the ground reaching out. Whether or not it was his intention, neither of them knew. But, Black Zetsu reached his hand out and the mysterious substance that made his body up surrounded both their fists. There was a great explosion and much debris flying about. Kakashi stared at this and sighed.

"Well, we tried, Naruto, Sasuke," he said looking up at a huge rock flying right at him, "Guess me and Sakura will see you soon." The boulder fell upon him. And he was, contempt. He smiled. Game Ov-

Line

Sakura awoke with a start. She was lying on a small single-person sized mat covered up by a blanket. She tried getting up only to realize that there were bolted cuffs locked and nailed to the ground. Under normal circumstances she'd be able to break out no problem but at the moment she had just enough chakra to keep her alive. "Ah, I see you're awake," an unfamiliar voice said. Huh? Startled Sakura turned her head to see who was talking. A man with black hair that was spiked and covered one eye he wore a black kimono with white lining. The man let out a sigh and continued speaking, "As I am not a man who is known for drawing things out I'll just get to the chase. Who are you and why were you washed up on the banks of the Shikawa?" he asked her. Unfortunately, Sakura was unable to speak. Where was she? How did she get here? But most importantly, who was this man in front of her. Last she checked everyone was trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Then again she did just punch/get punched by a man who'd pretty much had become God and the attack was somehow interfered with by a strange plant creature. So what the hell would she know? The man in front of her narrowed his eyes and his demeanor became much more threatening. Sakura could just feel the Killing Intent waving off of him. She had no idea where she was or how she got into this situation so she decided to tell the truth.

"I-I'm sorry, sir," she said, "I'm afraid I don't know where I am at the moment. I was in the middle of a mission when there was this loud burst and I fell unconscious. Next thing I know is I'm waking up here. Who are you and where am I?"

The man let out a sigh apparently taking her act, "I am Tajima Uchiha and you are currently in the middle of the Uchiha compound surrounded by numerous guards who will not hesitate to kill you under the unlikely chance that you actually escape you binds. Now then if you would be so kind as to tell me what your name is girl. Hello?" He'd lost Sakura at Uchiha.

UCHIHA!? UCHIHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!? AREN'T ALL THE UCHIHA DEAD!?

Wait, what do you mean they're all dead?

Don't you remember- Wait wait wait what the hell!? Madara!? Where the hell are you you bastard. I'll rip you in two!

Feisty girl aren't you? Hn. Well, if you reeeeeeeeeally want to know then I'm currently inside you. Somewhere. Now, back to the important matter of the dead Uchiha because I clearly remember fighting one wi-

The entire clan was wiped out by Sasuke's psycho brother. There you got the short version. Now then, do you know what the hell's going on here?

Shouldn't you be freaking out over the fact that the man who murdered your friends/comrades is in your brain?

Ooooooooooh, trust me when all of this bullshit sets in I'm going to. Once again, what the actual horse fucking is going on here!?

*sigh* We're in the past. The man talking to you is Tajima Uchiha, my father. If you kill him to prevent me from being born 1. From the way he looks it's DEFINITELY after I was born so it would be a moot point that would get you into more trouble than you really should and 2. You'd get your as kicked sooooooooooo hard.

I'm blaming you for this.

What!? How the hell is this my fault!?

Oh, gee I don't know- maybe it's because it was YOUR plan which resulted in the fight that sent us here in the first place.

Hey, Zetsu was the one who intervened.

STILL YOUR PLAN! Ugh, I need to go and get out of this mess now. I'll have time to process all this crap later.

When she got out of that state she saw that Tajima was talking to s nurse of some kind. "Well, sir, I honestly don't know what- oh, are you ok?" the woman looked down at Sakura and placed a palm to her forehead.

"Y-yeah," she answered, "Just got kinda shocked that I ended up in captured by the uh- mighty Uchiha and the infamous Tajima Uchiha and am now at their complete and utter mercy. Please don't kill me." Tajima motioned for the woman to leave the room and she did so.

He looked down at her still with a stoic expression on his face, "If our aim were to kill you we'd have slit your throat when you were unconscious."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "So, why not? You have every reason to."

Tajima kept his poker face as he replied, "The Uchiha are self-serving, egotistical, apathetic, and emotional pricks with numerous holier-than-thou complexes running through its members and just overall horrible people. Not idiots. We can tell when someone did not intend for their beaten up, unconscious body to haphazardly float down a place who's name literally translates to Death River before washing up on the outskirts of our territory completely unaware of the situation they're end. Well, Madara is, at least. Everyone else in that guard patrol wanted to kill you and throw you back in the river." Ok, there were numerous things that were so weird/wrong with that statement she just heard she couldn't begin to describe it. Like for example, MADARA saved her life. Fucking MADARA. Wait, Madara was here. He was probably a lot younger and considerably weaker at this point in time.

"So," Sakura said getting ready to ask the million dollar question, "What the hell do you plan to do with me?" As Tajima looked down at Sakura she noticed a smirk growing on one side of the man's face. He leaned down so that his face was right in front of Sakura's.

"I want you to work for the Uchiha," he said. Sakura's eyes widened.

"What do you mean? Wh-why?" she asked. She did not like where this was going. What the hell did Tajima want with her? Slave labor? Concubine? Oh Kami was he going to marry her off to one of his kids!? Oh geez, please don't let it be Madara.

I'd take offence to that but I'd rather not my past self get stuck with you as their wife. Who knows what would happen.

"What do I mean? Quite simple. We saved your life. You owe us a debt that you must repay. Indentured Servitude is the best means of this," he told her.

Her eyes narrowed. "Sounds more like forced slavery to me," Sakura replied before spitting in his face. She could hear the Juubimara gasping and could see Tajima's eyes widen. The man straightened himself and wiped the spit off his face. She was expecting him to get angry over her disrespecting him in such away about treating such a "generous offer" so horribly. Instead, he smirked and chuckled a bit. He turned his gaze towards her and smirked.

"I see you're not as afraid of the Uchiha as you originally tried to lead us to believe," he said with amusement in his voice. Sakura looked at him with daggers in her eyes.

"Well," she said, "When it became clear that flattery wouldn't get me anything I decided to drop the act. Tajima Uchiha, you're clan does not scare me. My best friends are dead. Everyone I ever knew is gone my entire life was taken from me in the last 24 hours in ways you wouldn't even believe if I told you. I'm afraid at the moment I've got too much going on and quite frankly haven't had enough time for everything to process correctly so forgive me if I'm the least bit disrespectful but I'd rather at least have enough time to live in order to sort these feelings out." Tajima looked at her and then looked outside the window she just realized was there. With a solemn expression he took out a key he had hidden in his kimono and kneeled down taking the blanket off of her to reveal the cuffs which she found were black in color. He showed her the key.

"When I release these restraints and give you time to process your feelings you will not try to escape. This is not a question nor a request. This is a demand. I will give you until I am done with my dinner and business for the night I will return and we can discuss more. Your food shall be delivered to you in 2 hours. You may ask for water whenever necessary. But that is the only thing you may request. You are not to leave or tamper in/with this room in any way. Do I make myself clear?" he told her in a stern voice. She nodded and he undid the cuffs one by one. He placed the key in his kimono and walked off opening the door and shutting it behind him. Sakura heard the sound of it being locked and she curled up in a ball. Everything that had happened to her in the last 24 hours- she went through a war, she helped fight an ancient demon, Team 7 was reunited, Naruto and Sasuke died TWICE, Kakashi-sensei probably died too, and the entire world was trapped in an eternal illusion. Oh, and she got blasted back to the past where her life (in part) was saved by the same person who'd grow up to kill Sasuke and Naruto and had the future version of him somehow stuck in her head. She clenched her teeth and let it all sink in. Every last bit. And she did the only thing she could do.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! WHY!? WHY WHY WHY!? WHY ME, GODS, WHY!? Everyone, e-everyone's g-g-g-gone. Whhhhhhhy?" She curled up as much as she could and cried. A day, a single day was all it took to drive her to this.

Sometimes, that's all it takes.Jubimara told her. Just one bad day to drive the sanest man alive insane. That's what happened to me. One bad day. Then again, girl, maybe that's the joke of this whole world. All the pain all the suffering. Some kind of cosmic prank. A killing joke if you would.

Shut up, I'm gonna kill you before any of this happens! I'll kill all of you! Every last Uchiha scum! That way I can be sure that all of you Uchiha who will cause so much pain and suffering, Itachi, You, Obito, …. And even Sauske! I'll make sure all of you never cause so much pain! You especially, ooooooooooh how I wish I could make you suffer! But I'll end you so quickly that you won't even know what happened.

Very well. You can try. Juubimara replied and began to chuckle. You see, this is why I did what I did. Revenge, Death, all of it. All humans ever do is suffer and hurt others as a result thinking that it will actually make the pain go away. An eternal cycle of blood and hatred. The good people in the world don't deserve this. This pain they gain as they are trampled on. They deserve bliss. And while yes, those horrible ones, the serial killers, the rapists, the gang lords, the tyrants, the whole lot of them will get bliss too at least they won't be hurting anybody. Quite frankly, I pity you girl. You are the only one that didn't in some capacity get your dream world. Neither through the Infinite Tsukuyomi or the Pure World. Instead you're stuck here forced to mope about and plan out revenge schemes to try and escape your own pain. Thinking it is a good way to face it and you're doing the right thing. I almost want to cry for you. Almost. Then again, I usually never consider crying for someone. So congratulations. You've managed the impossible. You made the psychopath feel bad for you.

Sakura let out a couple sniffs. Why? Why does it have to be me? Why am I the one that has to suffer through this!? WHAT THE HELL DID I DO!?

Why? Madara asked the broken kunoichi. Why not?

You're not making this feel any better. Only worse.

Good, that's what I was trying to do.

When supper came, Sakura didn't eat it. She'd already cried herself to sleep, her dreams haunted by Naruto and Sasuke's corpses.

Author's Notes: Well, that has GOT to be th most depressing Chapter 1 I've ever written. This was born from a desire to write a Sakura-centric fic which is something I've wanted to do for a while now. I hope you guys like it! And by that I mean grow really depressed and continue watching under the hope things will get better. I have to say I am proud of this chapter. That's all really. Callian31, signing out!