[ AUTHOR'S NOTE ]
Hello, hello! I'm so excited to introduce my first story on this site: Once Upon a Time. Originally, I was planning on starting off with a multi-chapter story, and technically did, but without warning my story was promptly deleted and I had to start from scratch. Hooray for random hiccups.
In any case, Naruto is one of my all-time favorite animes, THUS most of my stories will revolve in the Naruto universe. This should be good news for you, seeing as how you're looking at a Naruto story to begin with.
Disclaimer: I clearly don't own Naruto.
Please let me know in the reviews what you thought! Enjoy~
[ ONCE UPON A TIME ]
"The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper."
-Eden Phillpotts-
"Neh, neh! Sakura-chan! Where does this go?"
"Top drawer."
"Oh-ho! What's this? Some sort of vile of blood?!"
"Cough syrup. Baka."
"Well what about –"
"If you ask me one more stupid question, you'll have to finish cleaning by yourself!"
Haruno Sakura was not having it today. As of late, she was requested daily for overtime at the hospital, inconveniently minus the extra pay. This had never been much of a problem for her as she still lived with her parents in their cramped little townhome, however she was desperately planning a move out. Soon. She was already sixteen-years-old, and many of her friends had taken action to make themselves independent of their parents by this point. It seemed once again, she was left behind. She should've planned this move sooner to begin with. Besides, they were way too embarrassing to put up with any longer.
A sudden noise brought her attention back, turning to see her teammate slip on a pile of important files and dropping the five glass containers he'd been carrying. Her nose cringed.
"Eh?" The young man blinked, suddenly finding himself on a floor of glass. He shifted to stand and caught his hand on a shard, easily grazing through his skin. His hand quickly withdrew as he grumbled to himself, trying to remove the glass caught on him.
"Don't!" Sakura shouted. He glanced at her, feeling his hair stand straight at the sight of her angry face. "Can you not make more of a mess than you already have?"
Of course, Uzumaki Naruto was the reason Sakura was stuck at the hospital on this particular day. She had already finished her reports for the day and signed herself out; all that was left was to drop off her lab coat in the office she'd recently been promoted to. As she opened her door, she was met with the sight of her perfectly organized and filed office destroyed, with all her belongings and supplies scattered carelessly across the floor. She took a step forward, horrified, wondering who would've done this. Surely no one she worked with, they all feared her – and for a good reason.
On cue, her eyes hit the far back wall. In sloppy handwriting written in permanent marker, it read 'With Love, The Next Hokage!' Not long after she'd stumbled into her room, mortified, Naruto popped up and appeared just as shocked to see Sakura standing in the office. Apparently it was a prank meant for Tsunade, and he conveniently mixed up their offices in the hospital.
Sakura frowned at the memory, focusing on helping the blonde out of the mess of glass now scattered around them. He quickly hopped from the space he was in and backed her up, not wanting her to step on any of the shards. She promptly plucked the piece still in his hand, earning a whine from Naruto and a smile of her own. After healing him up – though his body had already begun healing on its own – the two went back to cleaning up the wrecked office.
Just as Sakura began sweeping up the glass on the floor, Naruto started his ramblings again. "Sakura-chan?"
"Yes?"
Naruto held up a small, golden locket. It had been clicked open and was showing a picture of a young girl inside. "Is this you?" he asked.
Sakura stepped closer and briefly inspected the photo, nodding. "Of course. Who else have you seen has pink hair?"
"Heh, true." He smiled and absently scratched his head. "How old are you in this picture?"
"Hmm, around six. Maybe seven. That's my mother's locket, she must've dropped it in here the other day."
"Oh, sorry." Naruto quickly gave the locket back to Sakura. She thanked him and placed it on her wooden desk, making a mental note to remember it once the two finished cleaning up. As she reached to grab the broom and start sweeping again, she noticed Naruto still staring at the open picture of her.
Sakura placed a hand on her hip, huffing at her teammate, "Naruto, you're getting creepy staring at my picture like that."
He blinked and swiftly looked away, blush crossing his face. "It's not that!" Naruto defended. "I just remembered something."
"Eh?"
"Yeah, I'm sure of it," he nodded, glancing back at the picture. "I had a dream once about it!"
"About me?" she blushed.
Naruto fidgeted. "Well, sort of. It was about you and me when we were kids. Oh, Sasuke was there too!"
Sakura's eyes darkened. "That sounds nice."
Naruto flashed a grin at her. "Here, let me explain…"
~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~
"Detention?!"
A young Naruto wailed complaints at his teacher, Umino Iruka. Iruka huffed, examining the boys' restroom the two currently stood in. Not more than ten seconds ago had the teacher stumbled in and caught the academy student making a giant tepee out of the stalls' toilet paper, not having a care in the world.
Except when he got caught, that is.
Iruka sighed and shook his head, glancing down at Naruto who was still throwing a tantrum. "Enough! What did you expect? You can't keep pulling these stupid pranks, Naruto!"
Naruto crossed his arms defiantly, looking away with his chin up high. The teacher felt his eye twitch irritably.
"I expect to see you after school."
"But –"
"TODAY!" Iruka shouted, storming off. Naruto groaned. There's no way he could skip if Iruka was going to be attending after school detention. Tsk.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and continued on with his day, not bothering to clean the mess he'd made.
Four hours later and the final bell rang, signaling the end of that Tuesday school day. Children rushed to the outdoors and met their parents on the school's front grounds, sharing smiles and trading stories about how amazing their days were and what new things they learned. Naruto slouched in his window seat in the assigned detention classroom, watching quietly as a boy his age rushed to his mother and father in a loving embrace, excitedly telling them what a great ninja he wants to be one day. He huffed and quickly turned away, glaring forward at the blackboard while waiting for Iruka to show up.
The door to the classroom suddenly opened. Naruto turned in his seat and abruptly shouted, "What the heck, Iruka-sensei! I've been waiting forever!"
A girl around Naruto's age poked her head in, eyes wide in shock. Naruto quickly scrambled an apology, feeling embarrassed. "S-sorry! I thought you were someone else!"
Her lips tightened as she quietly walked in the room, avoiding eye contact with Naruto. He watched her curiously as she sat in the front row of the class, placing her backpack at her feet and crossing her arms against the table she sat at. Her short pink hair made Naruto instantly recognize her as a girl from his class. She looked different somehow, and he was racking his brain for what that was…
His eyes caught sight of the bright red ribbon in her hair, pulling back her bangs to show her cute face. Of course, she had bangs before! Naruto hopped out of his seat and made his way over to her, taking the seat beside her at the same table. "Hi there! I'm Naruto!" he declared, flashing a friendly smile and sticking out his hand.
The girl looked over at him bashfully. "Hello," she mumbled, focusing her attention ahead.
He frowned, scooting closer. "Hey, hey! What's your name?"
"S-Sakura. Haruno Sakura."
"Sakura," he repeated, smiling. "That's a pretty name!"
She looked over at him, shocked. "Really?"
"I don't lie! Believe it!"
Suddenly the door opened again, and another boy their age walked in. Naruto raised an eye at the boy's black hair spiked up in the back, front bangs framing his pale face. His dark eyes scanned the empty classroom before noticing the two students sitting together, joining them by placing himself on the other side of Sakura at the table. The rosette felt her face grow warm as she turned to the new boy, closing her eyes and offering a small smile. "H-Hello, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke glanced at her, confused. "Do I know you?"
"Ah, no! My name is –"
"She's Sakura! How could you not know such a pretty name?!" Naruto interrupted, eyeing Sasuke in suspicion. Sakura hit her head against the desk and groaned, conveniently giving the two boys a better view of each other.
Sasuke suddenly smirked at Naruto. "I know you. You're that kid who's always dead last."
"What! I'll have you know I'm going to be the next Hokage, so show some respect!"
"Ha. You'll have to pass a class before you do that."
"Alright kids, settle down," Iruka's voice interrupted, popping his head in the door. He walked in and took a seat at the desk in front of the classroom, eyeing the three students sitting together. Shuffling some files in the desk drawer, he pulled out a few papers and nodded toward the awaiting class. "Okay. Please state why you're here and that you won't do what you've done again. Let's start with you, Sasuke."
Sasuke sighed. "Uchiha Sasuke. I lit a student on fire by accident. Sorry."
Naruto and Sakura stared at him with wide eyes. He did what?
Iruka chuckled at the other two's reaction. "It's alright, let's make sure you control your fire techniques better for next time. On to you, Sakura."
She nodded. "Hello, my name is Haruno Sakura. I'm in here because I helped someone cheat on a test." Sakura looked down, placing her hands in her lap. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."
"Hey, I could use help on my test!" Naruto grinned at her. Iruka shook his head.
"Moving on to you, Naruto."
"Well, I did nothing wrong. So I shouldn't be in here." He nodded as if it were the clearest thing in the world. His teacher sighed.
"I suppose I'll have to speak for you. You trashed the boys' bathroom as a stupid prank," he paused to shoot a harsh look at the blonde, "and will not do it again."
Sasuke raised a brow and glanced at Naruto. "You did that?"
"Pretty cool, huh?" Naruto gleamed.
"You really are a dobe."
"Knock it off, you two!" Iruka intervened. He fixed his posture in his desk chair before continuing. "Your assignment for today's detention is target practice. Consider yourselves lucky – if this wasn't last minute, I would've had a test prepared for you all!" Naruto gulped at the thought.
The three students nodded in agreement, filing out of the classroom and heading toward the back of the school toward the practice grounds. Stepping outside the academy, Iruka led the small group a few yards out to arrive in the school's training field, surrounding themselves in target-coated stumps, posts, dummies and trees. Typically during school hours, the students would be led to the more-public training area on the side of the academy building, with the limited option of a single row of giant targets. The back area between the academy and the nearby forest was used mostly for teacher practice and tutoring.
"Sweet!" Naruto pumped his fist in the air.
"Alright, kids." Iruka stepped forward and revealed the bag he'd been carrying over his shoulder, dumping it on the soft grass below. Numerous kunai, shuriken, rope, paper bombs, and a few other weapons poured out on the ground, free for the students to take. The teacher stepped back and gave the three a pleasant look. "I have to run in to finish a report for the day. I'll be back in a few minutes, but for the time being…" He paused to glance at the students, landing his eyes on the young girl of the group. "Sakura is in charge!"
With that, he turned to head back to the school before Naruto could begin to muster a string of complaints at him. Meanwhile, Sasuke turned his attention to the newly promoted leader, asking, "So what should we do first?"
Sakura hesitated, shyly walking over to the pile of weapons laid out for the three and shuffling around. She looked back at the two boys staring at her and blushed. "W-well, I think –"
"Hey, hey! When's your birthday?" Naruto suddenly asked.
"My b-birthday?!"
"Yeah, how old are you?"
She paused for a moment. "I'm seven years old."
"Eh, really?!" Naruto hopped up excitedly, waving his arms around. "Me too!"
"Of course you are," Sasuke replied. "We're in the same class. Dobe."
Naruto grudgingly ignored that insult. "Then we're lucky number seven!" he exclaimed. Sakura smiled and nodded, while Sasuke smacked his forehead.
Suddenly, a harsh breeze blew around the trio, and Sakura's red ribbon lost its hold in her hair. A slight shift on her head caused the rosette to reach for her hair, eyes widened in horror when she felt nothing holding her hair together. She glanced up in time to catch sight of her hair ribbon blowing in the wind, heading toward the nearby forest. Her legs started running toward the dark woods, crying out, "No, no! Come back!"
Sasuke quickly appeared in front of the hysterical girl, snatching her waist to prevent her from running. "We're not supposed to go into the forest."
She began weeping, still trying to run away while he held her. "B-but, my r-ribbon!"
"Buy a new one."
"I can't!" she wailed. Sasuke grumbled as her tears began staining his shirt. "M-my friend…she gave that ribbon to me. I have to get it back, s-so please! Please, help me!"
Naruto stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, offering a confident grin. Sasuke was shaking his head at the boy as Sakura glanced over, eyes brimmed with tears.
"I'll get your ribbon back, Sakura-chan," Naruto told her, smiling. Sakura blushed at the endearing suffix, while Sasuke shot a glare at the blonde.
"You idiot. We can't go in the forest, it's off limits."
"If you're too afraid, Teme," Sasuke scowled while Naruto continued, "I can save the ribbon by myself."
"I'm not afraid. And the ribbon isn't alive, so it's not like you're saving anything –"
"Then there's no time to lose!" Naruto punched his fist in the air, declaring, "Let's find Sakura-chan's lost ribbon!"
With that he sped off into the forest, followed by a reluctant Sasuke and concerned Sakura at his heels. The three academy students ran around the trees of the forest till Sasuke spotted the ribbon still caught on a wind current, flying south. The group quickly raced after the flying hairpiece with both boys throwing shuriken in an attempt to catch the ribbon. This continued for a bit until the students were deeper in the forest with less wind to travel, causing the ribbon to finally land on a high tree branch several yards from the ground.
Sasuke frowned as he patted his weapon pouch. "I'm out of throwing stars."
"Me too," Naruto sighed. He glanced over to see Sakura staring up at the ribbon caught on a branch, sobbing quietly in despair. He quickly walked to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder again. "How important is that ribbon to you?"
"V-very, very important," she sniffed. Naruto nodded.
"Then we'll get that ribbon no matter what!" He looked around at their current surroundings. They had gone farther into the forest than he originally intended; he didn't know if he could find his way back to the school from here. The trees were taller and thicker in this part of the forest, with branches blocking most of the sun from view. A few patches of sunlight broke through the trees here and there, revealing some shrubs and rocks scattered around. The ground was covered in a mix of dirt and dying grass. Naruto began to feel a bit uneasy.
Whoosh.
A noise broke his thoughts as he glanced around. Sasuke had snatched a rock from the ground and aimed for the tree branch, cracking the weaker half of the bark. The branch proceeded to break under the rock's pressure, breaking off the tree and falling to their feet. Sakura's ribbon was securely wrapped around the fallen branch.
She rushed over and carefully removed the tangled ribbon from the branch, brushing off the dirt before tying the hairpiece back in her hair. Sakura began crying again as she ran up to Sasuke and hugged him, thanking him over and over. Sasuke sighed as the girl once again messed up his shirt.
Naruto tightened his fists at his sides, looking down angrily. Sakura noticed this and quickly grabbed his wrist, yanking him over beside her and Sasuke. She hugged both of them, smiling to herself quietly while the two boys stood beside one another awkwardly. Sakura pulled back after a bit and wiped her tear-stained face, offering a pleasant look toward them once her face was clean.
"Thank you," she smiled.
Sasuke nodded while Naruto grinned back at her, giving her a thumbs-up. She laughed at the other two. Maybe they could be friends after this…?
Her foot took a step back and caught on something, causing her to tumble backwards. Panicking, she flailed her arms out and quickly grabbed the closest hand to her, dragging Naruto down with her. The two hit the ground with a solid thump a second later. Sasuke eyed the others and shook his head, sighing.
Naruto groaned and rolled around the dirt patch, whacking his head against a solid rock beside him. He yelped and glared daggers at the rock while hearing a quiet snickering from his two companions. With a grunt he smacked the rock a few yards away, ignoring the throbbing pain now in his hand and hoping he gained a little of his dignity back.
As the blonde sat upright and crossed his legs, he noticed the other two fell silent and curiously glanced over at his classmates. Sasuke stood in front of him with Sakura now propped up on her elbows beside him, both staring at the ground beside Naruto. He shifted his eyes in their direction to see them staring at the exact location the rock had been moments before, only now a different object laid on the dirt: a single scroll.
The scroll was secured tightly by dark wrappings, masking it well against the dirt ground and shadowed forest. Its handles were worn and aged, and a certain air floated around them as the students all gazed at the foreign object. Naruto couldn't quiet place this feeling. It wasn't pleasant.
Sasuke spoke first, stating the obvious. "The rock was a cover."
Naruto and Sakura didn't respond or move, still fixated on the aged scroll sitting delicately beside them. Sasuke rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets, walking back in the direction of the academy. The noise startled his other companions and broke their focus, both heads turning toward the fading footsteps. Naruto stumbled to stand up, calling out, "Oi! Where you going?"
"Back to school. I suggest you do the same," he replied nonchalantly.
Naruto huffed. "Teme, do you not see the scroll?!"
"Dobe, I have eyes. I also have common sense, but I wouldn't expect you to understand."
"You're not curious at all? Who knows how long this scroll has been here! We could be reading –"
"No." Sasuke turned on his heel, sending a glare at his classmate. "We need to leave. Iruka-sensei is probably looking for us by now, which means we'll be in trouble. Again. All because of you and this stupid ribbon."
Sakura was standing between the two boys now and quietly put her head down, embarrassed. He was right, it was her fault for insisting they go into the forest. Looking around their current area, she wasn't quite sure which way they had originally came from. All the trees looked the same now, each one tall and towering and dark and intimidating. "What if we're lost?"
She had the words out before they registered as a simple thought, and Sakura quickly covered her hands over her mouth in shock. Her body was trembling, green eyes feeling the familiar sting of tears welling up. Sasuke shot her a look before taking in their surroundings more closely, frowning slightly. She suddenly didn't sound as absurd as she looked.
Sasuke turned his attention to the blonde again, who currently had his back facing him. He noticed a slight tremble in Naruto's form and smirked, placing a hand on his hip. "Don't tell me you're scared of a few acres of woods."
He didn't respond. Sasuke's frown deepened. "Dobe, have you gone deaf?"
Still no response. Sakura glanced over in his direction now, noticing the more violent shaking of Naruto's body. Instinct kicked in and the girl rushed to her classmate to comfort him, placing her hand on his shoulder as he'd done earlier. "Naruto?" she asked quietly. "What's wrong?"
Silence.
Sakura looked down at what Naruto had been focused on, eyes widening as she let out a loud gasp. Her foot took a shaky step back with her eyes still locked on the same spot Naruto was looking at. Sasuke glared at the two as he neared them, stopping on Naruto's left with Sakura still flanked at his right. His dark eyes loomed over what was in Naruto's hands.
His breath stopped short.
Naruto held the scroll in his hands, rolled open for the three to see.
Naruto's body shook more violently now as his mind registered what his eyes were reading. The scroll was –
Everything went dark after that. The three academy students fell limp to the forest floor, unconscious. Before Naruto's mind completely faded, his eye cracked a slit to see two shinobi with ANBU masks standing above them, whispering to themselves. There was a man between the ANBU…Iruka? Yes, he could hear Iruka's voice, apologizing to the ANBU. One of the masked men began to mumble something about a memory eraser, and then…
~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~
"And then, I woke up."
Naruto concluded the story of what he self-declared as his "epic dream." Sakura had chosen to sit at her desk while Naruto droned on and on about this dream he had a month ago, going on to explain how detailed and familiar it seemed. How he could feel everything that happened in the dream. She furrowed her brows at that comment but continued to listen in silence until he finally finished.
Her eyes glanced on cue at the clock and frowned. It was already early morning, and rather than being productive and finishing this mess she hadn't even made, Naruto continued to waste more and more of her time. He was looking at her currently with a wide grin across his face, waiting for her to tell him how wonderful and amazing his dream was. She saw right through that and tsked, causing his grin to waver slightly.
"Naruto?"
"Yes, Sakura-chan?" He said her name sweetly, with love, and she narrowed her eyes.
"Tell me there was a point to this dream, and that you didn't just waste the past three hours talking to me about nonsense."
He flinched. Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously, feeling the dangerous shift in the air between them. "Well," he started, "I thought about telling you this dream so you could help me!"
"Hm?" Now she was curious.
"Well, since you're a doctor and one of the smartest people I know, I thought you could help tell me the meaning or something."
Sakura shifted in her chair, suddenly flustered by his compliment. "I-I mean, I'm not an expert or qualified in the field of sleep –"
"Please, Sakura!"
"Fine, fine," she huffed, taking a deep breath. "For starters, it's not uncommon for people to have a dream you described – one where you feel like you're awake, alive, and experiencing everything that's happening. It's actually more common for shinobi to have these types of dreams; we live and breathe raw emotions and actions so frequently that it's not a surprise we experience it in our sleep."
"Yeah, yeah, but what about the ANBU?!"
"What about them?"
"I remember them saying something about a memory eraser…a jutsu, I think. What if it wasn't a dream? What if it was a suppressed memory!" he exclaimed.
Sakura sighed. "That would be impossible. We never met till we were older."
"Well maybe my memory just came back first since I'm the coolest!" A thick book was promptly thrown at Naruto's head after that.
"Baka! Enough about dreams, we have my office to clean up!"
Naruto rubbed his sore head and flashed Sakura a bright smile, who had already turned her attention back to cleaning and organizing. His gaze lingered on her for a moment before shuffling around the room to help, smiling quietly to himself.
Dreams were meant to be wished as reality.
[ AUTHOR'S NOTE ]
Oh ho, was it a dream or did it actually happen?! You decide!
This story was meant to be a simple and cute fanfic to help start my writing on this site. I hope you enjoyed, please click the review button to let me know what you thought! Thank you!