She was born, curiously enough, in the early hours of the morning, during an intense rainstorm that rattled the hospital windows and ushered in the strong desire to be away from the piercing droplets and wind. With her murky blue eyes - which would eventually mature into a sparkling green, and tufts of pale pink hair matching her skin-tone, she was a gorgeous baby.
The father declared her a cherry blossom and insisted she be named such, while the mother agreed, fondly enduring her husband's good humor. The happy couple claimed that the gods must have blessed them with such a darling child: their own little Sakura.
And much like her namesake, she swept through life, flitting through the changing winds and following whichever gale was strongest. Sakura gave her love freely and with the ease of a trusting child. Her smiles and laughter floated into the wind and she rose along with them, content and in love with what the world had to offer.
Then, one day, she came home with the remnants of tears in her eyes and a shattered heart at her feet. Sakura ducked her head and buried herself, not venturing far from her precious books and scrolls. She lost herself in the words of others and nearly forgot how to use her own.
In her attempt to distance herself, Sakura fell in love with the many tales she read featuring strong ninja defending themselves from their attackers. She day-dreamed and wondered about all the theoretical what-ifs and maybe's, and what having that sort of strength would mean to her. So in a sudden burst of emotion, after so much time spent ducking her head and looking down, she looked her mother in the eye and demanded to join the Academy.
Despite being surrounded by peers in her age-group and enduring months of her parents' worrying, she remained in a state of constant quiet, and preferred solitude and the company of her books over her classmates. Sakura stayed withdrawn and shy, a pale shadow of the happy child she once was.
What they didn't know is that every night, during bedtime, she tucked herself under the covers, curled up her entire body into a little ball, and drifted. Then, when she inevitably got pulled back by a familiar-but-different voice, she happily continued the previous night's conversation with the little girl who lived in her head.
Sakura fully acknowledged that this wasn't normal behavior - she could recite several paragraphs from different books that explained how not-normal this kind of thing was. But she really didn't want to worry her parents any more.
(And she was a big girl, now. She couldn't be expected to tell them everything, all the time.)
Just as suddenly, her parents came home to find her waltzing through the kitchen, a red ribbon in her hair and a happy skip to Sakura's step. Her smiles made their long-awaited reappearance and only the noisy chatter of a crowd could muffle her genuine laughter as it spilled out from her lips - without having to be forced, for the first time in months.
And on days when the Konoha sun burned especially bright and the heat was enough to send civilians back into the comfort of their homes, she bounded outside with an excited glint in her eye, stopping by at lunchtime to leave a flower here and there, before leaving with happy squeals next to a short blonde blur.
Bounding past the living-room threshold after a day at the Academy, Sakura glowed, smile firmly fixed on her face and mouth babbling a mile a minute about a little boy with theblackesthairandtheprettiestfaceand wow hiseyes-
"You should see him!" she crowed, a dazzling grin lighting up her entire visage. She immediately bit her lip and looked down at her feet in embarrassment.
That was not be the last time her parents would hear of Uchiha Sasuke and his many amazing qualities.
(it was, however, the last time they would see Sakura with that same red ribbon in her hair - now faded from the many hours she spent playing in the sun, and quietly wonder what had happened to it)
A whirlwind of bright pink raced past the corridor of her family's modest house and jumped out into the street - barely managing to avoid colliding with a couple on a leisurely morning stroll. She swiftly pivoted on one foot, apologies spewing out of her mouth at the speed of the sun, and continued running through the busy Konoha streets.
Spying a suspicious flash of purple, she shot forward even faster, legs trembling, to shorten the distance between herself and the other girl, who, very conspicuously, began to speed up as soon as Sakura had crossed onto the same street.
The two ran at full-speed through the familiar streets and alleyways, with all the reckless abandon of two children with their heads in the clouds and their minds singlehandedly stuffed into their furiously pumping legs. Ino and Sakura raced past the large Academy gates, skidding to a messy stop at the doorway of their classroom in an attempt to push the other out of the way and prove their superiority. Upon their arrival, the wait until Iruka-sensei entered and class seemed to proceed as usual was strangely short. And if it were not for the fact that today's final test would determine who was to graduate, Sakura felt that it would have been a largely average day.
As expected, the class soon lined up to take their final test and things continued to progress without much change - even Naruto's antics weren't particularly original - if as irritating and more perverted than usual.
Instead, she focused on mastering her own nerves and tucking them away into a small corner of her mind. Sakura strived to follow Sasuke-kun's example and look just as cool as he looked right now - Eeeee!
She centered herself, and, hearing the sound of her name, walked out to perform her technique and show everyone who doubted her and made fun of her and laughed at all the goals she ever set that she was going to be a ninja - and she would make a damn good one!