"Between the husband and the wife,
espoused with the water of life;
But of this water thou must beware,
or else thy work will be full bare.
He must be made of his own kind."
{The Ripley Scroll}
Sakura never felt so alive. Her emerald eyes glint in the sun, reflecting the light with a not-so-subtle sort of gusto. A big shit-eating smile plastered on her face, there's a beat to her step as she walks leisurely down the street towards the academy building. She holds her body with an inhuman elegance, something that's unique even to a shinobi's structured posture and cat-like movements.
New sensations dampen her senses, it's like she's experiencing the world around her for the first time. What a beautiful existence, how hadn't she noticed before?
The pink haired girl was the subject of a lot of attention, not to the village shinobi of course - but to the civilians; and not solely for the fact that she's a girl with neon pink hair, but because she came from a prominent merchant family with lots of money. Sakura had actually been a large subject of controversy in recent gossip, neither her parents nor their family 'friends' could approve of her decision to become a kunoichi. Sakura wasn't exactly an easy person to say 'no' to, so her parents decided to humor her until she'd be assigned to a genin team. They came to the idea that she didn't possess skills beyond that of a 'paper ninja'.
They all thought she'd fail on her own and that'd be the end of it, course that was their error.
Though Sakura had already made three, far greater, mistakes of her own. First, she left her mother that disgusting 'treasure-trail' of a mess. She should've pushed down the excitement and turmoil and erased the evidence of the occurrences of the previous evening.
Second, she completely changed her behavior and appearance - making no effort to hide self-inflicted injuries. Had her hair been any other color, no one would recognize the cherry blossom ninja trainee. She still looked like hell - a well-groomed, clean hell; but hell, all the same.
Her final mistake, and perhaps the most damning one: Sakura didn't greet the elderly civilian woman, her maternal grandmother, with a shred of recognition as the woman moved in her path. The woman had gasped, taken aback by Sakura's appearance. "Sakura! What happened to your face?!" The crone exclaimed. Sakura didn't spare her grandmother a glance as she sauntered forward.
She continued onward, her destination being her classroom. She's to be assigned to a ninja squad. Sakura felt no excitement about it, even though it should've been an impressive accomplishment.
Sakura was the last to arrive to her classroom at the academy, she had walked slowly, enjoying and observing her surroundings. When she slid back the door and entered the room, all eyes turned to her.
"I will now be announcing… Haruno-san?" Iruka breaks off mid sentence, taking in the girl's appearance. Something was very different about her, no… Everything about her is completely different. The way she's dressed, the injuries, her posture, and even the simple detail that she's a few minutes late. "Iruka-san?" The pinkette quips, inclining her head in a slight tilt as her lips tense upwards in a stretched, unnatural smile. Iruka-san? Sakura never addressed him so informally, she'd always been very polite and respectful. Still a bit perplexed, Iruka ignores the comment and opts to get on with the discussion - despite the fact that something is clearly 'off' with the girl. "Please take your seat, Haruno."
"As I was saying before I was interrupted: I will be announcing teams now…" Iruka continues. Sakura took a random empty seat instead of her usual one, her mind was still a bit distorted, and frankly, she couldn't remember which one was hers.
Iruka was not the only one to notice something strange about the resident pinkette. Sakura hadn't just seemed strange to one overly perceptive Nara, but a certain stoic Uchiha, loud-mouth Kitsune - that wasn't nearly as stupid as everyone assumed, and a fluffy Inuzuka pup, who were keenly aware of the obvious changes.
The reactions varied: curiosity, concern, concealed interest, and fear.
Sakura just patiently waited for her name to be called, all too aware of the attention drawn on her. She'd spent a long time thinking about that Uchiha boy, he'd been so important before. Sakura doesn't know why, the situation is surreal but it's not as if she feels that she's in a dream - it's because she feels like she's been in a dream all her life and this is the first moment she's been truly awake.
"Squad seven: Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke." Iruka captures Sakura's attention once more.
As time draws on, more names are called and genin unit team leaders arrive and leave with their assigned students. Eventually, everyone aside from Sakura and her teammates have left. Even Iruka is absent.
The blonde fox-boy chooses that moment to approachher, "Sakura-chan, did somebody hurt you? You can tell me, I'll protect you… Believe it!" The Uzumaki hesitantly reaches out a hand and places it on her shoulder in a comforting manner, he moves slowly and flinches as if he expects to be hit.
Maybe 'old Sakura' would've obliged him but 'new Sakura'? The girl's head turns to him, her left eye burning into a deep orangey-crimson. "Kurama-kohai, do not concern yourself, these are simply flesh wounds. It shall be healed in no time. Though do tell this one… How are your stomach issues? I heard you ate something you shouldn't have." The pinkette remarks with a relaxed tone of arrogance, her voice coming off with layers of barely contained, feral spite.
The blonde boy is taken aback, not just because his 'dearest Sakura-chan' didn't hit him but because she spoke something strange to him. "Huh?" he asks the girl in confusion.
"You don't know, do you?" The girl shrugs accompanied by a throaty chuckle. She then shakes her head slightly as if to clear her mind and shifts her posture, suddenly silent. Her left eye quickly fades back into it's natural color. "Sakura-chan… What'd you mean by that?" Naruto asks hesitantly.
Sakura's face is blank. She shrugs off his hand and moves away from him. "What are you talking about? I didn't say anything." Sakura asks lightly, her voice coming out apathetic and drone-like, completely unfeeling. The change is sudden and alarming to the Uzumaki and Uchiha.
At this, even Sasuke's eyes widen a fraction and lock on Sakura, making no effort to hide his stare. To him, it's obvious that something is very wrong with the pink haired girl. The way she spoke and the weird thing with her eye only confirmed it, not to mention that she looks like she was in a serious fight.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Speaks a new presence standing in front of the doorway, it's a man with gravity-defying silver hair. The famous - no - infamous, copycat jounin. "Not that I actually care… But, meet me on the roof." He continues after a long pause before disappearing in whirlwind of leaves.
Sakura is the first person to the roof, this startles the Jounin, because she was there before him; Which shouldn't be possible… He takes a few moments to observe her - there's an inhuman quality to her that he can't place, so he shrugs it off as 'unsettling' and makes a mental note to be cautious of her. Kakashi admits that he'd be wrong to think the Uchiha has the highest potential.
Having his anbu rank striped on account of 'reckless field work' and 'ptsd' hadn't been how Kakashi imaged living out the last of his prime years, and he certainly hadn't planned on getting stuck with some unworthy, bratty genin. He was just damned unlucky, even if it was his own fault. Really, Kakashi's just not the sort of man that takes responsibility for things in general, much less his own actions.
Anyways, it wasn't that big of an issue… He'd just fail them with the bell test the following day and then wash his hands of all of this genin nonsense.
A few minutes pass, marking the arrival of both Naruto and Sasuke. Both boys stare at the pink haired girl's back before taking a seat beside her on a concrete bench.
"Alright, let's all introduce ourselves now. Likes, dislikes, hobbies, and goals for the future." Kakashi speaks once everyone is seated. Not getting the response he hoped for, as he's greeted by blank faces and silence… "I'll go first. I'm Hatake Kakashi, I have many likes… My dislikes, well, I don't think I'll tell you that. Hobbies? I have lots of them, as for my goals, I can't remember." He shrugs.
"Your turn, blondie." Kakashi motions towards Naruto. Said blonde, takes a second to shrug off the 'what kinda introduction was that? He didn't tell us anything accept this name' thought that his teammates share.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I like ramen but not the three minute wait! And I'm gonna be Hokage, believe it!" Naruto yells, causing Kakashi to wince and Sasuke to mumble something about 'being surrounded by idiots'.
"Next, how about you… Mopey." Kakashi struggles to come up with a nickname. Sasuke grunts in annoyance before answering.
"I am Uchiha Sasuke. I don't particularly like anything. I hate most things. And my goal is not a goal, but something I will make a reality… And that is to revive my clan and kill a certain someone." His leans forward with earnest, inadvertently muffling his voice behind his hands which his supporting his head with seriousness.
"Okay… And finally, your turn, pinky."
"Sakura." The pink haired girl answers, her posture perfect. Hands folded neatly in the lap, back straight, head looking forward, and feet planted firmly on the ground. It makes her look like a lifeless doll.
"Anything else?" Kakashi sweat drops, of course he'd get the weird ones.
"Nothing else that's any of your business, Kakashi-san." Sakura speaks, in a monotone voice.
Well, so much for normalcy, Kakashi thinks to himself. He's got the kitsune jyuubi brat, an uchiha avenger, and a girl - that he's not sure about anything more than: 'yeah, she's also a mental case'.
With a sigh, "Meet me under Hokage bridge at dawn tomorrow and don't eat anything." Kakashi says before disappearing once more.
Sakura promptly returns home after meeting her new 'sensei'. Her mother is waiting for her at the steps of the stairs.
"Oh my god, Sakura! What happened to your face? Your grandmother came over this morning telling me you were acting strangely. I tolerated this ninja-nonsense but no longer! And care to explain the mess I found this morning!?" The woman angrily yells at the pinkette, but at the girl's silence, the girl's mother explodes in a fit of anger. Haruno Mebuki always did have a bit of a temper and that would've bothered Sakura - had she truly been Sakura...
"Just wait til your father gets home! I'm sure he'll have something to say! You're in so much trouble, young lady!"
Sakura is still in a numb fog. She tries to slide past the woman, once again offering her no verbal response. "Sakura!" The woman grabs the girl's arm, gripping tightly and pulling with force. Sakura is not shaken by the movement in the slightest, but she snaps her head around to her mother. Sakura blinks slowly, a familiar flare of red stirs in both of her eyes, settling into a more ominous shade. Mebuki gasps as she watches in horror as her daughter's features shift.
Signature rosette locks become the color of ink and everything sharpens... "S...Sakura?" Mebuki questions nervously, her voice revealing her internal panic as her heart rate increases and her stomach lurches.
"No, no you're not my daughter!" The woman breaks into tears, her body shudders under the stress. Mebuki forces down the bile in her throat and takes a few frantic breaths before speaking again, "Who are you? Where is my, Sakura?"
"We are Sakura." The dark haired apparition answers, her mouth drawing into a cruel smile. The girl proceeds to open her mouth, revealing a set of razor sharp teeth and without pause, latches onto the woman's throat.
The next moments are eclipsed by a whirl of complete and utter violence.
Sakura clenches her teeth tighter, tearing away at the flesh like an animal as fresh iron flows past her lips. She feels a sense of pleasure as the taste hits her tongue - she's consumed by the delicious sensation, euphoria overcoming her mind as the woman's screams are choked by blood.
Blood spills everywhere in spurts, Sakura is covered in it. The demon sucks the liquid down feverishly, her claws scratching at her mother's body. Eventually, the action transitions into something even more despicable.
The girl chews and swallows large hunks of meat, ripping away at the body like a wolf would a deer.
Had the demon been kinder, maybe she would've spared the girl of her truth - but simply, it was kindness that was not in her nature. The demon allows Sakura to regain control, as their eyes return to their emerald color, the girl pushes herself off the corpse, letting it slop onto the floor is a squishy heap.
She throws herself back, scooting backwards on the floor until her back slams into a wall. Tears well in her eyes and she covers her face with blood drenched arms to try and hide from the scene laid in front of her eyes. She can't shield herself. "Oh god, what have you done?!" She screams and sobs. "You killed my mother! You're a monster!"
The girl's left eye flickers, "I didn't kill your mother, you did." The demon converses, an illusion of the creature stands before the girl looking down at her. Though the image does not speak, and Sakura knows it's because the words are dripping from her own, traitorous mouth. Her body has turned on her - betrayed her. "Why? Why did you do this?" Sakura questions, pulling the arms to her sides and balling her fists.
"It's in our nature. You made a choice girl, ready to pussy out already? You asked for power, now you have it. Anything you want, you can have."
"I didn't know that you'd do this! I never would've went into that cave if I knew this would happen!"
"Don't you lie to me, you know the real truth." The demon laughs tauntingly, "Did you not enjoy my power? Did you not enjoy the Uchiha boy's attention? Did you not enjoy the feed?"
"...I did." Sakura resigns in a tortured realization. "I'm the monster." The pink haired girl speaks quietly, unexpectedly offered a strange comfort by her 'unintentional companion'.
"We are a demon, don't over complicate this. We must eat to live like all other creatures, we are no different from the humans in this aspect. Now pick yourself up accept reality. There is only one course of action, and that is forward." The demon stoically rationalizes before regaining control of their shared body and standing firmly, allowing her fingers to twitch - igniting a series of massive black fires around the Haruno residence.
The flames billow into one massive force that scorches the home, explodung windows outward and causing the wooden structure to quake before crumbling around the girl's form.
The blaze casts smoke into the air and it's not long before a civilian crowd gathers around the building, soon following, a dispatched anbu squad swarms the scene.
An anbu wearing a fox mask casts a water jutsu over the fire. When the black inferno dissipates, ninja swarm the remains of the home, yielding the recovery of a mutilated corpse of a woman and an un-singed pink haired adolescent who is covered in dried blood.
"Mebuki!" Kizashi shouts as he pushes past a boar masked ninja, falling to his knees as his eyes fall upon the silhouette of a body covered in a blood soaked white sheet on the lawn. Tears stream down the man's face. He turns to the anbu, "Where's my daughter?"
"Haruno Sakura has been transported to TI for questioning, as there's no evidence of an enemy nin attack, we need to investigate the cause of the situation as it may have resulted from a possible domestic dispute." An anbu answers soundly, before motioning for a team to remove the body, leaving the man to weep on the ground in outrage.
Elsewhere, an interesting report comes across Morino Ibiki's desk at TI headquarters. The scar faced man flips through a manilla folder that was passed to him, a few moments ago by an anbu; followed by the arrival of an unconscious civilian girl who was placed in integration cell thirteen. Ibiki lets his eyes scan over the pages, the file encased the civilian records of the Haruno merchant family and an incident report.
Haruno, Sakura
Age 12, ninja academy graduate. Assigned to genin squad seven. Affilates: Hatake Kakashi (Jounin sensei), Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto.
Clan affiliation; None
Relatives: Haruno Mebuki (mother), Haruno Kizashi (father), Haruno Saiyumi (Maternal grandmother).
Haruno has green eyes and pink hair, she placed #2 in her academy class and is known friends with Yamanaka Ino (Yamanaka Clan heir). Haruno is characterized by her budding intellect and infatuation with Uchiha Sasuke, the Massacre survivor.
Ibiki raises a brow at the information, finding nothing to be out of the ordinary. He turns to look over the incident summary before going to question the girl, wondering what was so serious that a merchant brat landed herself in the special interrogation facilities. There's a knock at the door and he looks up to see Inoichi, motioning for the Yamanaka to wait for a moment he finishes scanning the words scribbled down onto the report.
Sometime in the late afternoon anbu were dispatched to the Haruno residence, alerted by large black flames that consumed the home. After the fire was put out, the disfigured body of Haruno Mebuki was pulled from the home as well as the unconscious Haruno Sakura.
No evidence of foreign ninja.
Suspected domestic abuse.
Further observation: Haruno Sakura had several injuries prior to the blaze and her homeroom teacher, Umino Iruka (chunin) testified that Haruno had been acting strangely the previous day.
Ibiki shakes grunts in response to the recently learned information, so the anbu suspect the little girl murdered her mother and then decided to burn the house down... That's a bit more than just 'out of the ordinary'. Looking up, he briefs Inoichi before giving him the 'go-ahead' to interrogate the girl.
Inoichi nods to his superior before walking down the hall, followed by Morino who is a few paces behind. He stops in front of a door labeled '13' in bold letters, pulling the door open and sliding into the cell. Ibiki meanwhile stays outside and watches from an observation window.
Sakura is already awake but pretends to still be unconscious until the man she recognizes as Ino's father steps into the room. Sakura's hands are cuffed to the armrests of a metal chair, that's firmly bolted into the floor.
Chakra restraints are placed around her via a nylon rope that her torso is secured to the chair with. Her green eyes tremble and fill with tears. "Y..Yamanaka-san, why am I tied up like this? Where am I?" Sakura asks nervously as she sniffles her nose and water leaks from her right eye. "I'm here to question you Sakura, now relax and this will be as painless as possible." Inoichi informs methodically, trying not to let her tears effect him. Sakura is his daughter's best friend after all, he's watched the young girl grow up - he's known her ever since she was a much younger child.
Inoichi goes through the hand signs for his clan's renowned jutsu, "Shintenshin no Jutsu!" He announces as he slips into the girl's mind.
Had Sakura been a normal person this search would've revealed her memories and there'd be no way to deceive the Yamanaka clan head, however, the demon was a fickle creature - capable of many things. The demon only showed the Yamanaka what she wished him to see, she made it seem as if Sakura had no memory of what happened and that she'd simply been unconscious for the duration of the event. She lied to the man with false images and feelings, making him believe it was the pink haired girl's father that had killed her mother and inflicted wounds upon the girl's own face.
Relenting with his findings and violating protocol, Inoichi removed the restraints from the girl and pulled her into a tight hug against his chest, "I'm so sorry Sakura, I knew you couldn't have done this. Don't be afraid, I'll make sure he never hurts you again."
He feels her shudder in what he assumes are hushed sobs, he couldn't have been more wrong. The demon possessed teen smirked, laughing silently, causing her shoulders to shake.
"Come on sweetheart, I'll take you home." He tries to reassure.
"Y-yamanaka-san, I don't have a home anymore." Sakura whimpers.
"We'll find you a place to stay, it's okay." The blonde haired man pats her head before tugging her along.
Through a twist of events, Sakura ended up spending the night in a spare bed in the anbu barracks, rooming with a man in his early twenties. She only knew him as 'neko' - the anbu with a cat mask. She slept soundly, pleased to find all of her injuries healed overnight.
In the morning she showered and dressed herself in some of Neko's spare clothing - which, hung baggy on her petite form, and slid off her shoulders - and tied her forehead protector around her neck before leaving to meet her team.
The excitement had finally worn off.
Sakura strolled up to the designated meeting point for her squad. She arrived several hours late, making her the last to make her appearance. "Sakura-chan, where were you? Even Kakashi-sensei got here before you!" Naruto asks in his usual boisterously loud way of speaking.
The girl's eyes shifted to Sasuke for a moment, some of her prior apprehension showing through. Sasuke observes the pink haired girl through narrowed lids, so her previous behavior was some sort of facade? Sakura seems to have regained some of her normalcy - she ignored Naruto, acted awkwardly and only seemed to focus on himself after all.
"I apologize for my late arrival, I had a personal issue to attend to yesterday and I had to find a separate location to sleep for the night as a result." Sakura explained with a low bow. "Is that why you're dressed in men's clothing?" Kakashi questions the girl, the fact that she was dressed strangely seemed to have gone unnoticed to the others; Well, that is until Kakashi mentioned it. "Huh!? Sakura-chan, you're not cheating on me, are you!?" Naruto yelled in false seriousness. Sasuke turned away with a huff before mocking his teammate, "She said she couldn't stay at her house last night, Dobe."
"Why couldn't you go home Sakura-chan?"
"There was a fire." Sakura's expression darkens momentarily.
"That sucks Sakura-chan, at least no one was injured though." Naruto blurts out without thinking, as he scratches the back of his head with a sheepish grin, attempting to reassure his crush.
"Someone died, Naruto." Sakura trails off, kicking at the ground uncomfortably. There's a painfully awkward silence that follows, Naruto's laugh dies in his throat and he splutters a bit. Kakashi decides it's time for him to intervene and move things along.