Title: My Name

Author: Sal

Rating: PG

Notes: Ah, the wannabe heroine.

My name is Sakura. Like the cherry blossoms that bloom in spring and the soft pink color in kimonos. Like stepped on grass and cold lemonade. A love that is lost under the shade of petals and gained beneath the spread of clouds.

When Sasuke says my name there is always a hint of annoyance and disdain. Why can't I be stronger? Why, why, why, is the question that is always at his lips and never said aloud, a secret hidden between both of us. And he looks at me with dark eyes that are seeped in shadows, the question why hanging between us in the still, untouched air and I have no answer to give. Why can't I be stronger?

I am.

When Naruto says my name there is always a smile unfurling on his lips like a flower newly spread and it is said cheerful, as if I am the first thing he thinks of when he wakes in the morning.

Perhaps, I am.

When Kakashi says my name it is always with words muffled by a black mask. A long drawl that spreads his voice like syrup and honey across pancakes, smooth and relaxed yet sticky, the edge of authority riding beneath that lazy exterior.

I am. A student that searches out his advice and shrinks away from his attentions, always, always waiting for that mask to disappear.

When Mother says my name it is always with a great amount of patience and exasperation, two things that do not mix well, like water and oil. It always seems that she is warring between two great emotions, love and hate. Love, for who I am and hate for what I've taken away from her.

I am both. Love and hate riding on the crest of a wave before it hits the sandy shores of the beach, a moment that is indecisive yet powerful.

When Father says my name it is always with a proud tremble in his deep bass, a fixture of a daughter that is dependably good and is proof of his joy. I hear the protectiveness that firms his words, surrounding me like an echo, cave walls on either side of my ear drums, protecting me from the outside world.

I am. A seashell settled on the shore by the very edge of a cave.

Sakura, they say. Sakura, I answer. But I think, somewhere along the way the definition of my name changed.