Sakura is six when she first meets him.

He is innocently cute, with chubby cheeks and shining eyes.

Soon, nothing matters but him

Sakura thinks she would do anything for this boy

But she doesn't know how true that is

Sakura is seven when she signs her humanity away

She doesn't know it at the time

All she knows, is that she's following the boy she loves

Following him to the path of a shinobi

She doesn't even know what a shinobi is

Sakura is eight when she feels what it's like to kill something

The bunny is cute and weak, but the instructor has given them orders

Sasuke snaps his rabbits neck with little hesitation

So, Sakura breaks her bunnies neck too and is praised for it

But something feels wrong, because they are just children

Sakura is nine when she learns how easy it is to kill someone

Sasuke is the best in their class

If she is to be his wife one day, she needs to keep up

So she flips through diagrams of weak spots on the human body

She never actually imagines what it will be like to end another person's life

Sakura is ten when she sees what can happen to a real ninja

The man has scars mapped across his head

And Sakura thinks his eyes look a little like the rabbit's

Sasuke stares into those dead eyes and thanks the man for his service to the village

So Sakura does the same, even though her stomach churns

Sakura is eleven when she learns what a real ninja are capable of

She brings carefully made bento for Sasuke, as though that will make things better

Only to find that they haven't cleaned up all the bodies yet

She throws up in the bushes, bento forgotten

That night, she dreams of killing her family, in all the thirty-six ways she knows

Sakura is twelve when she realizes she's sold her soul

Her new sensei stands by the memorial stone

All that is left of these people are there names

Sasuke doesn't look scared, so Sakura pushes her fear away

She won't end up just some name on a stone, she will be the killer, not the killed

Sakura is fifteen when what's left of her torn body gets packed back to Konaha

She is a remorseless killer, any humanity she had has been given to her village

Sakura is right, she never ends up on a memorial stone

By then, far too many have died to bother with names on a stone