Prologue
A young girl sat alone in her room reading a book. She sat beneath her window, reading by the light that flooded in. The five-year-old decided to seclude herself like this because whenever she went outside to try to play with other children they made fun of her.
For a good reason, too, she had decided. She was the only person in her village of Konoha that had pink hair and a supposedly huge forehead. This had gone on for a long time due to her natural persistence but she had eventually resigned herself to this fate.
It didn't seem to matter what she did to fit in or make friends. She fawned over the same boys as the other girls did, only to be put down. She worried about how she looked and always left her house in the best condition possible. But still none of the other girls would willingly talk to her. She felt she was without hope.
Her parents were worried by their daughter's sudden withdrawal from socializing. They worried about her becoming completely anti-social and tried to comfort her. They saw what their daughter didn't see, the other girls' blatant envy. Sakura had unknowingly attracted other boys' attention, which with that attraction brought the girls unwanted fury.
As the days passed by the other girls fury grew until it had driven Sakura into being reclusive to avoid their anger. Sakura's parents continued to worry and their encouragements started to fail at getting their daughter out of bed everyday. Sakura, the young girl who could have anything in the world, became a sickly and depressed young girl.
Until her parents came up with a plan. The Haruno family was a wealthy clan of traveling merchants, and so the family had business to do in other countries. Usually they left Sakura with her grandparents but they had an upcoming merchant trip to some of the neighboring countries for a few years.
So their plan was to bring Sakura along for the trip to the countries of Stone, Mist, and Sand.
"So Sakura, you are aware that we, your father and I, have an upcoming merchant trip to the Stone, Mist and Sand villages." Said Sakura's mother.
"…" Sakura remained silent in reply.
"We would usually leave you with your grandparents, but because of the length of the trip we have decided to bring you with us."
"…Why?"
"We will be gone for more than a year, possibly several. With your present condition we don't want to leave you for any long period of time. Especially with this trip's indefinite length."
"…"
"So you are going to pack all of your bags tonight and we will leave the village early tomorrow morning."
"Okay…"
"If you have anyone you wish to say goodbye to, please, do it by the end of today."
"We all know I have no one to say goodbye to, Mother." Sakura answered depressed.
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At the Uchiha Compound the Next Day
"Sasuke, you have a female friend waiting for you outside." Yelled a cheerful Mikoto from the kitchen.
"Yes mother." Answered an equally excited Sasuke, who thought the person at the door was someone he had been waiting to see for a long time.
He hoped it was Sakura. The pink haired girl had been around before and though she would fawn over him like the other girls, she didn't over do it. She was quiet when she complemented him and never tackled him but instead occasionally asked for a hug and would wait for permission. He liked the way she treated him, he wasn't placed on a pillar to gawk at or expected to live up to knightly expectations. He could simply be himself around Sakura.
The young boy could be seen scurrying outside with a hopeful look on his face. As he skidded around a corner, he quickly skirted around his older brother. Only to be immediately halted by his brother's words.
"It isn't Sakura if that's who you're hoping for, Sasuke."
"Then who is it?" Asked a confused Sasuke, suddenly cautious of whether he wanted to answer to the visitor's summons for him.
The gate to their right burst open and a loud blonde ran inside tackling the younger boy.
"Sasuke!" She squealed, one of Sasuke's ever-present and unwanted fan girls, in a high pitched tone.
"Save me, Itachi!" Cried out the slowly suffocating boy in the arms of his insane stalker. His only hope of escape was quickly exiting the compound to leave him there to defend himself.
The older boy just continued to walk on, smiling or more so smirking as he left his brother with a small reminder.
"Uchiha men aren't supposed to beg their enemies for mercy."
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Ichiraku's Ramen
A loud blonde boy burst into the small ramen booth. He set down on an empty stool and greeted the owner. The elderly man who owned the shop and his young teenage daughter welcomed the boy who had come every day for several years.
At the ramen shop the boy knew he would be welcomed. Everyone else in the village shunned him for a reason everyone but he, himself, knew.
Everyone but Naruto, the boy, knew he was the container of a great demon that had attacked the village 5 years ago. They all treated him the same except for the ramen shop owners and a certain pink haired girl.
Sakura had been lonely and still was, which encouraged him to try and help her. She simply continued to recoil when he would approach her and retreat into her house again. But when she was feeling courageous, she would treat him to ramen, and though they wouldn't talk, they still understood each other. Though Naruto still preferred to talk out loud, he still understood her answers. He would make sure she was happy, it just felt like what he needed to do around her.
"One big tonktsu ramen, old man." Naruto cried out excitedly.
"Coming up." Answered the old man across the counter.
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At an ANBU Training Field
Two blurs moved through the air, metallic clinks and clanks accompanying their movements. To the normal eye it seemed high level ninja were just training but to any Uchiha Member it was clear their two best prodigies were having an all out battle between each other.
To each other it wasn't just lighthearted training between family or best friends but a competition of two equally matched rivals. They weren't out to murder each other (even though for the Uchiha family the definition of "kill" could easily mistaken for "training mishap.") Each cousin simply knew they weren't going to kill each other but that didn't mean they weren't against putting each other in the ICU at the hospital either.
Itachi always found a competition presented by Shisui. Itachi had never been the competitive sort and preferred to work than compete. But when Shisui had attacked him during one of his training sessions he felt like taking out some stress on Shisui. It was something he did rarely but today had been too much.
Now he was fighting Shisui, but his mind was elsewhere, another rare thing to happen. Of course he was always thinking about something but he was normally acutely focused on the task at hand. His mind was on the topic he had accidentally overheard while walking by the Hokage's office. The Harunos were leaving again, this time bringing their daughter, Sakura.
This was the girl that left his little brother happy and smiling whenever she would come over. For a small while she had come over to their house every day following the cruel orders of her so-called friends. It didn't take too long for her friends to notice Sasuke actually enjoyed her company and how the Uchiha actually welcomed her into their homes. (Mainly Mikoto, Sasuke, and himself.) And how she was treated unlike the other girls.
The others would always squeal or tackle hug the two brothers. Sakura was quiet, intelligent, glad to help anyone, and was surprisingly nice to hold a conversation with. Sakura only lacked self-esteem and was easily put down. That was why she didn't come outside often anymore, she had finally given up.
To think that she was leaving saddened Itachi for some reason. The reason was unidentifiable but he quickly shrugged it off, to leave it for later.
Short chapter, `cause it's an introduction. Second chapter will follow immediately after this one so no wait for my lazy and slow updates for now.
Note this is my first attempt to write a non-AU fanfiction. But you also have to think that any fanfiction isn't truly non-AU because it isn't the original series, and isn't written by the original author.
Another note as the topic of original author comes up, I do not own Naruto the series, characters, or the original storyline (which has gone down the friggin' drain since Itachi was killed off by the duck-butt haired gay-sauce.) The previous comment does not mean there will not be any SasuSaku in the future chapters and nor will there be any Sasuke bashing (well, maybe a little bit. Microscopic proportions.)
Please review and continue to read my other stories.
I'm sorry I haven't updated recently, multiple virus problems yet again and I am currently typing this on this computer without any virus protection at all so…yeah more delay might be coming up soon. Sorry `bout that.
Also I have found what I had lost for "Sakura in Wonderland" so that should come up soon too.