Disclaimer: Yeah. I still don't own any of the Naruto characters.

Chapter 1: Recollections of a Once Broken Heart

(5 years earlier, Sakura age 14)

She could remember his hatred, fury, anger, and above all his cruelty towards her. Sakura was in love with her Sasuke-kun for as long as she could remember. An unrequited love is what some might call it. She admired him. She tried for so long to get him to return her feelings but his cold heart wouldn't allow it.

"…You're still annoying," is all he could say as he left her that night. It pained her. It still would to this day had she not grown so cold, numb even. If only she had known. Sakura had risked so much for him.

She could remember giving up her only friend, "Ino….You like Sasuke too right? Now we're rivals..."

She recalled pouring out her ever-deep emotions him, "On that day, you taught me that solitude is painful! I understand that so well, right now. I have family, and I have friends, but if you're gone...to me...it will be the same as being alone."

All of these memories and more flooded back to her as she trained with Tsunade. Sakura subconsciously knew that the time was near. The time at which she would have to avenge herself.

After Sasuke left her, after a while, all she would grow to be able to do in order to hold onto him would be to become him. "I'm an avenger," he would always say. One of his most infamous quotes indeed.

The pink-haired girl was heart-broken after all that had happened. Rejection pained her so much.

"Sasuke-kun…after all that has happened...how and why are you still seeking revenge...what else do you have to prove? Are you still truly angry after all of these years? Revenge...is it revenge that keeps you strong and persistant? Is it truly your thirst for vengeance that allows you to stay focused? If only..." her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the realization that her sensei's leg was only centimeters away from crashing down on her skull.

"Sakura, I need you to focus. You're not getting anywhere if you don't pay attention."

"I apologize, Sensei," Sakura gently dropped her head in attempt to dismess her thoughts. They continued training. Sakura clindly charged towards Tsunade only to be knocked to the ground. She sat up. Blood flowing gently from her bottom lip. Tsunade looked at her in her classic pose, looking down at her pupil and her hands on her broad hips. Her expression reluctantly changed from a look of superiority to one of pity.

"Sakura..." she began quietly as she waited for her student to meet her gaze.

"I'm sorry, Sensei."

"We'll continue tomorrow... Leave," she dropped her head and waved her hand in dismay.

Sakura struggled to her feet and trudged off into town.

Tsunade watched her walk off. "Oh, Sakura," she whispered.


As the girl went into town, she eventually arrived at a familiar spot. The bridge. The bridge which held countless memories not only for Sakukra but also for the rest of team 7. They would always meet here in hopes of having their Kakashi-Sensei arrive any minute as he said he would. She smirked, "That was always a lie."

The kunoichi continued cycling through her memories as her smirk began to fade. She eventually found her thoughts returning to her broken heart. "Sasuke broke my heart. How do I get past this? So much has happened since then. Things that should have made me really happy. Do I really have to become like him in order to forget and move..."

"SAKURA-SAN!" called a voice all too familiar to the melancholy girl. She whipped her head around focusing her attention on this distant figure.

"Oh hello," she said slightly mumbling, "Lee... How are you?"

"Sakura-san! Hello my cherry blossom."

She looked somewhat reluctantly into his eyes trying to keep him from asking what was the matter. She didn't wish to crush his feelings. But as always, it did not work.

"Oh my, Sakura. You seem to be unhappy. Is this true? Do you care to take a walk or maybe we will enjoy ourselves by engaging in combat or maybe we can..."

Sakura interrupted his ongoing list of options by ignoring him and thinking about his benelovence, "Oh, Lee. You are so kind to me. I'm undeserving..." she said aloud.

He was there when Sakura needed someone to talk to. It was about 3 months ago when she had realized that she had grown somewhat fond of him. Anything to get her mind off her Sasuke-kun. She recalled sitting in the ramen shop one day with Lee and he was rambling on about youth and all its splendor as usual...

"Lee..." she said to him that day. He looked over at her.

"Yes, Sakura-san?"

She leaned over, eyes closed, and she gently placed her lips on his cheek. He blushed. She smiled. they stared at one another for a while, Lee blinking.

"S-Sakura?"

"Yes, Lee?" she began to reply.

"I-I-I,.."

"Yes?"

"I, I know that I have asked you this once before but I must ask you again."

"Ok..."

"Sakura-san, as you know, when I first laid my eyes on your youthful splendor, I was immediately captivated by your radiance. I recall asking you if you would be my girlfriend but you said no at the time. That was an entire two years ago and I believe that though we still contain our youthfullness, we have matured as well. Since the departure of our dear friend, Uchicha Sasuke, we have continued to become better acquainted with one another. I have come to appreciate you at a level greater than any other time...Sakura-san...I love you."

Sakura's jade eyes glistened. She blushed and looked at him once again..."I love you? He says it so meaningfully," she thought to herself at the time. It was a phrase so foreign to the ears of the kunoichi. A phrase she had been longing to hear for the longest time. From somebody. Anybody. The three words of assurance. There it was. "He actually said that he loves me?" she silently asked herself.

Lee continued explaining himself, "Now Sakura, I do understand that you might still be heart-broken and slightly skeptical, but as it is my sworn dury to protect you and those that I love, I would appreciate and respect that duty even more if I could accurately fulfill my promise to you by means of taking our friendship a step further so that as we both find ourselves amongst our inner turmoil, someday we will be able to bloom as the lotus does, but not alone, Sakura-san, never alone, but together as one."

The girl began to find her eyes welling for some reason or another.

"Sakura-san,' the courageous boy whispered.

"Y-Yes, Lee?"

"Will you please be my girlfriend?"

Sakura's smile slowly extended to both ends of her face while letting his question sink in. She nodded her head slowly at first and then vigorously, "Yes, Lee, of course!"

It seemed so right at the time. Lee loved her. Sakura needed someone to confide in and to help her to become whole again. Lee was the one. But somewhere amongst her bliss, she knew that she didn't truly love him.

"...I'm sorry but I rather not go anywhere. It would be wrong for me to do that when my mind would be elsewhere the entire time."

Lee's eyes changed from its usual cheeriness to gloominess. He realized that this had officially taken a turn for the worst. Time after time he would do so much for his unappreciative girlfriend but it had finally proven to be too much for him. He turned his back to her with his head lowered.

"Sakura, do you love me? This is something I must know."

The girl's eyes glistened and widened at his question, "Lee...I-I..."

"As I thought," the boy immediately replied.

"No, Lee I'm pretty sure I do it's just that..."

"No more excuses, Sakura-san. There is no more room for them in my life."

"Wait, oh my god...Lee please no. Don't!" she screamed as a tear began to roll down her porcelein cheek.

The shinobi struggled not to look into the girl's teary jade eyes. He instead became overwhelmingly distressed with pity. The heart of the girl was breaking right in front of him because of him.

"Oh no my heart can't break again...I need you, Lee. This is all my fault!" she thought to herself.

"I'm sorry, Sakura, but you are not the girl that I once fell in love with. You let darkness encompass you and to push away those who are trying to help you. I pity you. Sakura, this might be hard to understand, but you must be aware of it. You were once full of youth and beauty but now you are becoming nothing but a lifeless husk and undoubtably pathetic."

She began sobbing. She had so many mixed emotions. Rejection, fear, incompleteness, anger, depression, sadness, all of which only empowering her undiscovered thirst for vengence.

Lee began trailing off, "I apologize once more my cherry blossom that it had to end this way."

The girl's eyes faded becoming a dim and lifeless green. She couldn't stop him. She didn't even know if she truly wanted to. Clouds began moving overhead. She limply fell onto one of the bridge's red post curled into a ball. Her tears seized from falling. The clouds began to shed their tears for her. Drenched by the cold rain, immobile, and lifeless, Sakura realized that she had officially become numb.


Sorry that this update took longer than expected. Tell me what you think. Hope you understand the different tenses. Tell me if you see any grammatical errors etc.