Sakura rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming, clearly she was hallucinating. Maybe she really had lost it?
There, in all its ever-loving glory stood the hidden leaf village…
Okay… what?
Her eyes were wide as her breath got caught in her throat.
Her legs shakily managed to carry her to the gates, staring in awe at her beloved home… it wasn't burned down… the gates weren't destroyed… no smoke rose from anywhere, she didn't smell blood or death… in fact… she smelled something cooking…
What?
She numbly walked towards the village and spotted the two guards… she had seen them die early in the war. One had gotten decapitated and the other died from blood loss… it made her stomach lurch seeing them again… healthy and walking around, when she knew what had happened to them.
Sakura gapped at them, they caught sight of her hidden leaf headband, so they didn't ask her questions, but they DID however look at her oddly as she walked into the village like a gapping fish.
People were bustling about, doing their daily chores… alive…
She saw many people she had known and seen their deaths…
The buildings were whole and standing firmly on the ground… they weren't crippled or destroyed or burned…
She looked around, as if she was witnessing God's descent upon earth.
Some people looked at her oddly, but of course who could blame them? She was walking around like she had lost her mind, starting at people and objects in complete awe.
"Oh my Kami…" she stumbled around, utterly shocked, but tried to compose herself when she noticed people staring at her in bewilderment.
She came close to a very familiar street… she looked around, not noticing someone exiting a flower shop and bumped into them…
Sakura couldn't mumble out an apology, she was still in a state of shock. She looked at the person she bumped into… and froze.
Long platinum blonde hair, blue eyes and purple attire… a twelve year old girl stood in front of her, a bouquet of flowers in her hands…
"Oh, sorry" the girl smiled in apology and Sakura paled, her eyes almost bulging out of her head as she stared at the young female in front of her.
The girl's smile faded; a look of concern and a bit of recognition flashing in her eyes as Sakura gave a loud gasp.
Cold sweat started forming on the pink haired girl's brow as the person in front of her froze her to the very core of her being.
"Um… is something wrong, Miss? You look a bit pale…" the blonde asked but had no time to voice anything else as a blood curling scream ripped through the air.
"AAAAHHHHH!"
The blonde girl jumped in startle as Sakura let out a horrified shriek, people's heads turning to see what was wrong as the pinkette stumbled back and ran into a few people but quickly sprinted off into another direction like she just saw the Devil himself, leaving the confused and bewildered crowd behind.
...
Sakura ran; she ran as if her sanity depended on it, which was true. She ran until she was outside of the village, soon stopping and leaned on a tree.
This couldn't be true; she has to be dreaming…
Sakura suddenly didn't feel so good and quickly fell on her knees to spill her guts out.
She hurled and coughed until all the contents in her stomach were spilled on the ground.
She ran her shaking pale fingers across her scalp. She didn't see what she thought she saw. This couldn't be possible. Her village was destroyed, everyone was dead; she knew they were, she saw it. It just NOT POSSIBLE!
That wasn't Ino… she couldn't have just seen Ino! Ino was dead! She died! She can't be alive!
"I don't believe it…" she stumbled back, her legs feeling like jelly, "No… no…. no…I don't… believe it…" her vision was failing as her world became black.
Sakura passed out.
…
'Hey! Wake up! You got to get it together girl!' a voice yelled in her head, and then, from behind her eyelids, Inner Sakura appeared in her line if vision, 'Don't just lie there! Get up! You're a Kunoichi! What kind of ninja freaks out like that?!'
'I-I saw Ino… I saw people in my village… they were alive…it's not possible...'
'I know! But you can't just give up on me! Get up and try and figure out what the hell is going on! I'm as freaked out as you are but I ain't willing to die in the cold because of you! Now get up!' Inner Sakura hit her across the head.
Sakura's eyes snapped open.
She abruptly sat up to find herself where she fainted.
She noticed that the sun was setting… how long was she out?
The pinkette shivered and rubbed her arms when her brain managed to interpret her bodily needs.
She was cold, hungry, thirsty and mentally exhausted.
How did nobody find her body so close to the village?
Well, even so, she didn't care, in fact, she was glad nobody found her… she needs to sort out her thoughts and investigate… and seeing another familiar face so soon would surely NOT help at all.
Heh, it was then that Sakura realized how lucky she is to have an inner, because she would have surely gone insane.
'No need to thank me, just doing my job, now keep your head on straight and do whatever you need to do Sakura'
"Thanks" Sakura grumbled and sat there, she may have been needing food and rest right now, but all that was residing in the village, she needed to think before she went in THERE.
Okay, so the last thing she remembers before entering this alternate dimension was Naruto and Sasuke charging at her with their most deadly weapons.
They hit her full on… and then she woke up here.
But how? She should be dead and she knew she wasn't dead, cuz there were no fluffy clouds or cute little naked angels around her, she didn't have a halo or a white robe, and she certainly wasn't in hell either… was she? Nah, there were no little naked devils or hellfire anywhere...
'Focus Sakura!'
Okay so… after she 'died' in that hell where everyone was dead, she woke up here where everyone was handy-dandy and alive.
Okay so…
There was only one logical explanation for this…
She must be dead.
Inner face-palmed, 'Why do I deal with an idiot? We're not dead you moron!'
"Then how the hell do I explain this?!" she cursed out loud at her thoughts.
'THINK! You idiot! When you got into the village what did you see?!'
Well, everyone was alive… but they were… younger… Ino looked around twelve years old.
But how? How can she be so young? How can this be? Did the power of the Rasengan and the Chidori create some weird malfunction and send her off into another dimension?
Sakura lingered on the thought for a bit…
Nah.
Sakura wracked her thoughts to try and figure out what the hell was going on but soon her body groaned in protest, needing attention.
Okay, she'll figure it out in the morning, but she needed to keep a low profile, everyone didn't seem to recognize her, so people asking her questions she could not answer, was out of the question.
She got up, masking her charka and stealthily sneaked into the village again, her black attire blending in with the darkness as well.
She grabbed her leaf bandanna and wrapped the fabric around her head, covering her hair completely, if it was one thing people would question her for, it would be her hair. Ibiki had given it to her a year ago, telling her that her hair was too vibrant and the enemy would be able to spot her easily, so he gave her a similar bandanna to his own and she kept her hair covered on most missions since then.
Right now it was her mission to figure out what the hell is going on or she'd be damned.
Luckily, as she walked the streets nobody recognized her; she was just an average Shinobi in their eyes; that was good. Guess Ibiki's bandanna idea was useful after all. She also hid her tattoo that had gave her ANBU rank away, no need to be thought of as a high ranked Shinobi, she would get questioned.
Sakura had 'borrowed' some spare cash from a few people and got herself enough money to eat; now stealing wasn't her style, she hated it in fact, but she just couldn't sum up the courage to go to her (once burned down) house, she wasn't ready yet.
She didn't have much, so she decided to fill her hunger with something cheap but good… she passed a ramen stand.
Something twisted in her gut and it wasn't from hunger.
She didn't want to go in there, too many memories flooding in there, but she froze in her tracks when a familiar voice rang in the air, "I'm going to surpass everyone who came before me!"
Her heart clenched when that high-pitched male voice echoed into the depths of her mind…
She slowly turned, hesitantly lifting her hand to push the curtain aside.
Her breath got caught in her lungs as a lump formed in her throat; she wasn't ready for this…
She spotted a very familiar orange clothed back… but it wasn't tall or muscular… it was short… and small…
"And when that day comes, everyone in town will have to give me some respect at last!" the orange clothed boy shouted in confidence, making Sakura's breath hitch.
There sat a twelve year old Naruto, slurping up ramen as his teacher she recognized as Iruka sat next to him.
Sakura stood there frozen, her body refusing to cooperate as she stared at her beloved teammate and friend.
"By the way Master, I need a favor…" the blonde started, "another bowl of ramen?" Iruka chuckled, "Uh… your headband, the one you're wearing? Pretty please?!" he begged to wear it.
Iruka snorted and shook his head, "No way Naruto, It's a badge of adulthood, you don't get one until you graduate."
Naruto pouted and crossed his arms in offense, "What a rip-off!" he scowled and Iruka just laughed.
"Can I help you, miss?" The man behind the counter asked, she had been staring at the two ninjas for a good 10 minutes and the man was getting suspicious.
Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat, Goosebumps forming on her skin as two pairs of eyes turned back to look at her.
'Okay Sakura, don't freak out. Do. NOT. Freak out.' Her inner tried to calm both of them, 'Just keep cool, order a bowl of ramen to not get suspicious, and avoid eye contact at all times.'
She stiffly made her way to the counter and sat down two seats away from little Naruto, oh God this was torture, 'Don't look at him Sakura, don't look at him Sakura'
"Ahem, One miso bowl" She cleared her throat and turned her head to look at the man… memories flooded back, it was the old man, he was so nice to everyone… he was Ayame's father if she remembered well… he died a couple of years before the war. He had a heart attack in his sleep.
The man nodded and went to work; she drummed her fingers on the counter as she felt eyes on her.
'Don't move Sakura, don't even breathe. You are just a casual Shinobi, yes, nothing out of the ordinary, you're just a normal stranger, happily ordering your ramen, a twelve year old Naruto and your long-since-dead old sensei isn't staring at you, nope, you're not freaked out at all, you'll just quickly eat and then get the hell-'
"Excuse me, Miss?" Iruka's voice was heard, and much to her dismay it was directed to her, she held back a flinch and slowly, painfully turned to look at them.
"Yes?" she stiffly replied. Okay now she sounded WAY too suspicious, 'CALM THE FUCK DOWN SAKURA! CALM DOWN, YOU DON'T SEE ME FREAKING OUT DO YOU?! JUST RELAX YOUR MUSCLES!' inner, on the contrary was having a hysterical panic attack, despite being calm on the outside, it was taking all of her willpower not to start screaming and yelling and crying and destroying stuff like a lunatic.
Thanks to her training, she forced her muscles to relax even if her heart was starting to beat a mile a second.
She didn't want to start screaming again like she did with Ino.
"Pardon me asking, but I'm not sure I have seen you before, are you new?" Iruka commented as Naruto kept staring at her.
Of course, Sakura knew Iruka didn't know too many Shinobi, but damn when it came to faces, he had a good memory.
"No" Sakura replied, gulping down the water to ease her dry throat, "I just don't go out often… and… whenever I'm not home… I'm on missions… so I don't exactly take strolls… often…" she said and as soon as the old man lay her bowl in front of her, she immediately started eating, avoiding eye contact at all times.
"Um… okay…" Iruka caught on that she wasn't the social type and left it there, he had mostly talked to her because she didn't look too well.
"You don't look good, lady" Naruto voiced Iruka's thoughts and despite being a bit freaked out, a vein popped in her head, "What's that supposed to mean?" she growled and looked at the boy but couldn't find herself to look into his eyes, "I mean, you feel okay? You look like you saw a ghost or something." he added.
Sakura finished slurping the last of her food and got up, placing the amount she needed to pay 'I probably am seeing ghosts' she thought to herself "I'm fine, I'm just a bit tired from my mission, that's all."
Before any of them could comment, she got up and left.
'This sucks, this fucking sucks!' Inner yelled and flailed her arms around, 'We gotta find out what's going on! Because I think we both might loose it! We just saw a twelve year old Naruto, A TWELVE YEAR OLD NARUTO, ALONG WITH A TWELVE YEAR OLD INO! DOES EVERYONE LOOK 8 YEARS YOUNGER OR WHAT?!'
Sakura resisted the urge to punch something, she needed sleep. Her day was torture.
But then a thought struck her… everyone looks 8 years younger… there's only one possibility in this… either she was indeed dead… or she was…
…sent to the past.
"…"
'Well… shit.' Inner voiced.
