I'm going to change something else I think. I'm going to change that they ever killed Zabuza and Haku on that one mission. You'll understand later. And some of the dates for things might be wrong, like I think Naruto began working on his wind element after Sasuke had already left, so since I wrote that Sakura left instead of Sasuke, she wouldn't have seen that. Yeah I'm changing things around a lot. So if you see inconsistencies like that, It's there on purpose, I do realize that things are not in the order they should be.

Also thank you to the reviewer that realized that third degree burns are the worst. I was thinking second and put first. Sasuke's was supposed to be the less severe but I put it the other way around, or something. I forget. Anyway, its fixed and thank you for catching that though. Also I will be changing my pin name soon so if you see this story by a different author, it's still me, just a new name

While writing this I listened to My Heart is Broken and Missing by Evanescence

I can't go on living this way,

But I can't go back the way I came.

- My Heart is Broken, Evanescence

Even though I'm the sacrifice,

You won't try for me, not now.

Though I'd die to know you loved me,

I'm all alone.

Isn't something missing?

Isn't someone missing me?

-Missing by Evanescence

Disclaimer- I think I forgot to do this last time but I own nothing.

It had suddenly seemed so clear to her. She had to get herself out of love and warmth because those things weren't going to help her; they were the things that made her weak in the first place. Sakura needed cold hard teaching. Not how she was being taught here. She wasn't pushed hard enough. If she failed a task here, it was a pat on the back and a failed mission on my record. She needed her choices to be life or death, something more challenging, with a more severe consequence; otherwise, why push herself so hard in the first place? She already knew things would be fine once everything was over.

So that's what she did. Sakura knew where the gauze was kept, and wrapped herself bac up with fresh bandages, careful to wrap her face and leg loosely so they could get air, otherwise they would take longer to scab up and heal. She took nothing other than herself and her knowledge and was ready to go.

Well, she did put on some clothes of course. But it wasn't the usual red dress and shorts since they were probably burned and discarded. She took the medical patient clothes that had been left folded on the bed and dressed quickly. There were socks and sandals with the shoes. She took them. Sakura waited until she was by the window to start taking the IV and stuff out, moving quickly when the machine flatlined since it was no longer hooked up to a living patient. As soon as she got the window open, footsteps pounded down the hallway, running full speed toward Sakura. Ninja hearing. Without contemplating the pain of doing so, she jumped up on the windows ledge. Just before she left, she looked over her shoulder to see both of her teammates and her sensei, all staring at her from the door. She looked at three sets of eyes, and saw all three sets staring back.

Their faces held a look she would never forget.

Sakura had always had a hard time reading Kakashi, and thought he favored Sasuke just slightly more than Naruto, who was second on his favorites list. Sakura had always been the weak link on their team. But the look in his eyes was one of concern. Naruto, whom she was sure loved her the most out of anyone in this entire village, looked distraught. His blue eyes were wide, and for once, looked more white. He would take her departure the hardest out of everyone. Sasuke was standing still. His arms hung at his side. While Kakashi and Naruto loked ready to lunge after her, Sasuke was just standing there. Staring at her. He looked...defeated.

There was a moment's pause, where no one moved, breathed, or blinked. They all just stared.

"Sakura?"

As soon as the word was out of Naruto's mouth, Kakashi was in motion, ready to pull the girl from the ledge, but she just leaned back, freefalling into the air. All three watched as she fell from the window, but only two pairs of hands were stretched out to grab her as she fell, but were too late. She twisted at the last second, landed solidly on her feet, and then ran straight out of the gates.

Out of Konoha.

Out of their lives.

They didn't see Sakura for six more years.

6 years Later

Out of all the elements she could've had, she had an affinity for water. She knew Sasuke had an affinity for fire. She knew Naruto had an affinity for wind. She really could do nothing but dag Team 7 down. Her water would've just hindered Sasuke, although her and Naruto could've worked well together.

Sakura wandered how they looked now, what things were like six whole years later. They had probably grown a lot, gotten taller and stronger.

She looked different. She hadn't gotten much taller, but her arms were toned, her stomach too, although not washboard abs, she didn't want the female body builder physique. Her hair had grown much longer. She stopped cutting it since the ice was so cold. Her hair helped serve as warmth. She just left it to hang around her body, not tying it up or anything. It was long now, hanging past her breasts, just a few inches shy of her waist, to her bellybutton, which was pierced for no other reason than because she was bored.

She liked to think that Naruto looked exactly the same, just as jovial and boisterous as she remembered. Probably taller, more muscular now that he'd hit puberty and developed. And she hoped that he finally started paying attention to Hinata. They would be so cute together. And she hoped the same had happened to Sasuke-

"Ow!" she glared at her instructor and her instructor's shishou, who smirked at her, his big sword on his back. You couldn't see him smirk, because his nose down to his neck was covered with bandages that he rarely took off, reminding her of Kakashi sensei, but you saw his eyes crinkle up in the corner, and the impression of his lips move under the mask.

"Stop thinking about them." Her new shishou, Haku demanded.

"Hai." She nodded without an argument, glare, or smart remark. Just a yes. That's how she lived now, doing as she was told and not asking questions. This is what had kept her alive and made her strong. Her training had been grueling, given to her by Haku herself. At first all she did was run. She worked on her stamina for an entire year. She got faster and faster to the point where running from point A to point B was like disappearing in one spot and appearing in another. She was fast, that was for damn sure.

She had found the two after a month of walking around. She went from town to town as a vagrant wanderer, staying in one place for only a minimal amount of time, and never speaking to anyone and keeping her hair covered to remain anonymous. She trained, slept in the trees, and then ate what she could find. By the time she was found, she was nothing but bones, and barely any skin. Her burns were cracking, the scabs opening because she had no lotion to moisturize them with. Her face was beginning to peel and crack too. She was just piling snow on it, to stop the throbbing. Sakura was grateful for the winter, otherwise her burns would have been a lot worse off. The heat would bring bacteria, and bugs, and that meant infection and amputation, and she couldn't get rid of her head.

When they found her she was alive, but pale, on both sides of her face. Zabuza was the first to stop, having a flashback of how he had found Haku, dying in the snow, nearly covered completely, and hanging on the last thread of life that the Fates were ready to cut.

Then he saw the pink hair. He remembered the useless pink haired girl that basically did nothing while her teammates got their asses kicked. Had they cast her off for being weak? That was a thought. The others had been strong, it was a wonder how Zabuza and Haku managed to escape. Maybe they should help her out? Just to rub it in their faces. Zabuza sure wanted a rematch with the bastards. Maybe if he took this girl and turned her into a fighting machine, he could use her against her team, and then the tables would be turned against them. He noticed the bandages on her body had blood seeping through them. The wheels in his mind started turning. Maybe they really did cast her off. Did they try and kill her? He was definitely going to keep this one.

He ordered Haku to be in charge of her and her training, and then they were on their way.

Once she healed, they worked on her and her element. She had to try so very hard to summon the water. She remembered watching in the woods as Naruto worked for days to conjure up some wind, and hers was not the easier feat. She hadn't understood how to make water appear out of thin air. Naruto at least had air to work with.

Haku had explained to her that there was water everywhere, in everything, like her surroundings, all she had to do was draw it to her. At first she didn't understand. Draw how, like inhaling? Or was she supposed to visualize it coming to her and it would?

It was a lesson she would never get out of her memory.

"Hold this." Haku gave her a snowball from the ground, pushed it together so it was like ice, and then handed it to her.

It had been cold in her hand, like a burning cold. The longer she held it, the more it hurt. But she didn't cry, or even show any inclination that she was going to. She just suffered silently.

"Melt it. Don't- "Haku commanded abruptly when Sakura went to rub it until it melted," touch it, hold it in one hand, and melt it with your chakra."

"But how do I melt it if I'm a water element user? Heat is for fire element users."

"What is snow made of?" Haku questioned, walking around Sakura like a slave owner looking for a strong, sturdy slave.

"Water."

"And your confused how? You have water to work with. Melt it."

Zabuza had sat with his back against a nearby tree with his hands behind his head languidly, watching with glee as his subordinate went into teacher mode. He wore baggy striped pants and a sword sheath around his back, with no shirt, as if he were immune to the cold weather. He was intimidating when he wanted to be, but now he reminded her of a lazy tiger.

Sakura had to think very hard. They didn't teach these things in the books she'd read, and they didn't teach her these things in school. Things like these had to be self-taught, or you better have a damn good instructor.

Maybe if she just pushed the chakra into her hand, and concentrated it there, it would be a start. She did that, using her chakra control, and concentrated it into one spot, and then she pushed it into her fingertips and palm, right onto the surface. Once she got that far, she had no idea what to do. She thought of the warm types of water there were. Hot springs, that's one. They are naturally heated, and some geysers too. But hot springs are geothermally heated groundwater from earth's crust. The heat comes from the earth's mantle, and the last time Sakura checked, she wasn't a part of the layers of the earth.

Natural heat. She had that, maybe not in the same way the earth did, but she was naturally warm right? She focused on heating the chakra, drawing from her core and then using it. There was a sizzling sound and then she felt the snowball begin to melt in her hand, but very slowly. She put more chakra in her hand, and it began to steam up and evaporate.

Then it was gone.

"I said melt it, not disintegrate it." Haku said blandly, but there was approval in her eyes. She was proud.

For the longest time, a whole year, she practiced melting the snow. She practiced every day, all day, until she had no chakra left and was exhausted. But her hard work eventually paid off. She got to the point where she could melt the snow within a hundred meters of where she was standing.

For the other two years they worked on a second element. Even though everyone is only supposed to have one, some people have two, but it takes a lot of work, or just a bloodline to do it. Since Sakura didn't have a bloodline, as far as she knew, she had to work hard.

And she used the entire two years to master the wind element. She still isn't one hundred percent sure exactly how she did it, but she did. Now she could handle, water and wind separately, or combine them to make ice. Once she got to that stage, she could use all types of jutsus she didn't have before, like Haku's Ice Release, and Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals. She'd even made originals, and was able to conjure the ice up at will.

And there were even more secrets. She could use a third element.

At the same time, she trained as a healer. She had been interested in Tsunade, and had studied her, wondering where the purple mark on her forehead came from. She had been interested in healing herself after almost freezing her fingers off. She had acquired the Strength of a Hundred Seal, the purple diamond shape was in the center of her forehead.

Now, she felt useful.

Her entire day was going great, and then Zabuza decided to drop a bomb.

"I'm calling a rematch against your old team."

Konoha

In the six years that Sakura had been gone, things in Konoha were never the same. Team Kakashi had less fun, and they began to take things more seriously.

Two years after Sakura ran away, and became a missing nin, Naruto left to train with one of the Legendary Sannin Jiraiya. He called him Pervy Sage. Sasuke had split his time between Anko and Kakashi. Anko taught him how to control himself and the Cursed Seal mark he'd gotten from Orochimaru. She helped him with his anger issues too, and to deal with his past. Kakashi taught him how to control his Sharingan and how to achieve the highest point in his kekkei genkai, without having to kill his best friend.

Out of his two teachers, he liked working with Kakashi way better. Orochimaru was conniving and Sasuke just knew that the man was always trying to get his body. Orochimaru had taught him a lot though. As far as summoning went and he had helped him hone his skills for years. He had made his own friends, Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo.

Needless to say he felt like one accomplished motherfucker.

The day Naruto got back from his mission, they got a new teammate.

Naruto had grown. He'd gotten taller, very tall really. He was the same height as Sasuke, six foot four, but his hair had gotten lighter. It was less yellow, more blonde. Paler. His eyes were the same big blue pools they always were. Still innocent, but less rash and more careful, like he was going to think before he acted for once. Both boys no longer had the baby fat they'd had when they were twelve.

Their new teammates name was Sai. No last name. Just Sai.

He looked a lot like Sasuke, but there was no personal similarities. He had pale skin, black eyes and hair, but he had less color than Sasuke had. He wore a belly shirt, something Sasuke would never even consider adding to his wardrobe, and always sketched. But they soon found out that he was a ROOT member, assigned to team Kakashi to find Sakura and kill her, since she was a missing nin. They put a stop to that, and in the end, Sai became a friend to them, even if he was annoying. He took it upon himself to help them find Sakura, dead or alive.

From his very first day, he'd called Sasuke Emo, and Naruto was Dickless.

"So what did Sakura look like?"

They were sparring; just Naruto and Sai, but the one question made Kakashi and Sasuke stop what they were doing. Kakashi stopped reading his hentai book, and Sasuke stopped in the middle of blowing fire at targets. Sai wasn't one to take back what he says, so if he didn't get an answer, he would just analyze their reactions and read one of his books about the emotions of humans, and come up with his own far-fetched idea about why they won't answer him.

Naruto had a picture of Sakura in his pocket, so he took it out and showed Sai.

Personally, Naruto thought that she was one of the most beautiful girls on the planet. In his mind, he imagined that angels looked like she did all pale skin and bright eyed. Her laugh was contagious, and when she was angry, she looked like an avenging angel. He wandered what she looked like now. The last he'd seen of her, she had bandages covering most of her once beautiful face. His biggest regret was taking away the one thing he liked most about her. He realized now that what he'd had was just a crush on her because she was beautiful. He knew now that he had liked her in no way other than as a friend.

He still thought she would be beautiful, even with how Sasuke and he had burned her. He knew she had gotten lucky and had full use of both of her eyes, but that was it. Her new haircut had been different, but it highlighted her sharp cheeks, bringing out her beauty even mnore, and he wandered how she looked now. Naruto imagined that she would be taller, and even more beauti-

"She's ugly." Sai commented.

"How can you say that?" Naruto shouted in outrage. How dare he say something like that about Sakura-chan?

"Well, it's my opinion. I think Emo-boy is emo, I don't believe you have a penis, and I think she's ugly. I'm Sai, and this is what I've been thinking." He said matter-of-factly, ignoring Naruto's angry glare. If he was a fire element user, he would've been able to shoot flames at him with his glare.

Sasuke stayed silent. After what he had done to her face, Sai would think even less about her looks after that picture was taken. He didn't care what Sai thought. It had been years since they'd heard from Sakura, anything at all. They hadn't heard her girly giggle, her outraged yell, or her weird one-sided conversations in years.

Kakashi's eyebrow twitched, but other than that, he, too, stayed silent.

"She wasn't very strong was she?"

Naruto stayed quiet because, honestly, she hadn't been.

Most of Konoha assumed she'd died, so nobody bothered looking for her. She was only twelve, and although she was trained as a ninja, she was only a chunin, and she should be able to survive, but alone, with no one to save her when she got into trouble, or someone tried to mug her? How was she supposed to get food? Nobody believed that she lived after she left. Rumors spread around the Hidden Leaf Village that after the nurse had shown Sakura what she looked like, she'd gotten so angry and mad that she was no longer beautiful that she left to go kill herself. Even though it was a rumor, it just added to Naruto and Sasuke's guilt. The Konoha eleven knew Sakura would never do that, she wasn't that vain, but they too, weren't one hundred percent sure she was still alive.

Only Naruto and Ino stood strong, refusing to believe that she was dead.

A year after Sakura had left, almost everyone lost hope that she would ever come back.

A week after Naruto came back to town, Sasuke and Naruto got into it again. Since Sakura wasn't there to defend Sasuke when Naruto got on his case, he actually had to argue back for once.

He remembered the conversation very clearly

"Sakura was useless. We're better off with this new teammate." It was the harsh truth that Sasuke had to say to Naruto the day Tsunade came to introduce them to their new teammate. It hadn't hurt him to say it. He didn't like Sakura. Of course he felt bad for what he had done, but that didn't mean his feelings toward her had to change at al. She would always be that annoying loudmouthed girl that was on his team. Those were the only memories he had of her.

"Don't you say that about Sakura, Teme!" Naruto, within seconds, was in Sasuke's face.

"Why not, it's the truth?" Sasuke shrugged. It was what it was.

Naruto became as red as a tomato with anger. He was boiling inside; so much that Sasuke expected steam to come out of his ears. The two were exact opposites. Naruto's chest was heaving harshly with panting. Angry breaths, while Sasuke just breathed normally, arms folded, very nonchalant.

"She wasn't like us Naruto." Sasuke said calmly, "She had no reason to fight like we do. We have reasons for getting stronger, she does not. She never suffered any hardship in her life. She didn't see her parents die. She still has parents. She wasn't shunned by the village, like you were. All of a sudden she gets burned and she no longer has a reason to live? What a weakling. We aren't weak, we're better than that, and we deserve better on our team."

There was a long silence, where everyone said nothing. It wasn't awkward, but full of tension.

"What makes you think Sakura's life was that easy? Have you ever seen Sakura's parents?" Kakashi didn't sound angry. He spoke with the same lazy drawl he always had, except his eyes were a bit sharper than usual.

Sasuke hadn't known what to say. Her parents never were around, now that he thought about it. They hadn't been around the day Sakura had been burned. He'd never seen many parents of the other chunin, but he had at least seen them once, even if it was when they needed extra help. The clan leaders had been present for meetings with the Hokage sometimes. But it never seemed weird that he hadn't seen Sakura's parents before. He'd assumed they were civilians that coddled her.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, but he wasn't the only one wandering, for once.

"Well, Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. What do they have in common?"

"Uhhh, they're all on Asuma's team?" Naruto scratched his head in confusion, his anger momentarily forgotten.

"They are all from a clan." Sasuke said lowly, but both heard.

Kakashi began to speak lower, so both boys moved over to where he was sitting underneath the shade of a tree, and Naruto down. Sasuke chose to stand.

"Right. And they have all parents. Kiba, Hinata, and Shino, what do they have in common?"

"They're all from a clan too!" Naruto said excitedly.

"And they all have one parent." Kakashi added. "Lee, Tenten, and Neji?"

"Well Neji doesn't have parents. I don't know about Tenten and Bushy Brows though."

"None of them do. See, what happened was, when they grouped the team together, they did it by similarities. Things that the team members could bond over. Clan kids sometimes relate more to kids from other clans. Some kids bond better with kids that grew up like they did. What do you think this team has in common?"

"We all don't have parents?"

"Exactly. Sakura knew a lot more about being an orphan than you thought she did. And as for her drive, well, we'll never know now, will we?"

The only indication that Kakashi was angry was in the words uttered, not the tone in which they were said. His tone never changed from its usual languidly slow tenure. If he wasn't aiming to make Sasuke eat his words, he would've never said anything. And his blow struck true.

Sasuke said nothing, but inside, his heart crumbled a little more.

Ever since that day, he regarded Sakura as a budding flower, something that had potential, but hadn't bloomed yet. He knew that one day, eventually, it would burst open and be a beautiful flower. A gorgeous pink one with green tips, and she would be the best smelling flower he'd ever knew.

But Sasuke would have to leave her rooted in the ground, for another man to walk by and pick. He would only destroy her.

Sakura

The more she walked with them, the more her heart clenched with nervousness. She was getting closer and closer to her village, where everyone knew her, and probably thought she died like a weakling. How would they react to seeing her? Would they believe it was really her?

She repressed her excitement too. They would be so proud when they saw how she turned out. Maybe they'd want her to come back to their team. She wandered what their new teammate was like. Was this person stronger than her? She felt jealous that someone got to be with her teammates and she didn't but then calmed down. She had a new team now, and she was only staying long enough for the rematch. If they won, yay, then they'd leave, she hoped.

She really hoped Zabuza didn't mean a total defeat type of rematch, because she hadn't killed anyone yet. She could never kill her old friends either, no matter what they did to her. She didn't have the evil in her to do something like that. If Zabuza wanted to kill them, he and Haku were on their own.

And she knew Haku would side with his master, no matter what Sakura did. Haku would die for that man. Sakura still hadn't figured Zabuza out one hundred percent. Sometimes he was nice and funny, a cool dude to hang around and a good teacher when she needed help, but sometimes he was ruthless and cruel. He never hit Haku, but Sakura had been the focal point of his anger on occasion, and was beaten, not to death, but enough that she remembered not to cross him again. Haku never stopped him, but he always cleaned Sakura up when everything was over. And Sakura never hated the man, because this was what she asked for. What she needed. A strong teacher that would give her, not a slap on the wrist, but a slap in the face. An actual lesson, equipped with field experience and harsh training.

She could see the gate to Konoha now. She was closer than she wanted to be. It had taken a lot of courage to get here. What if they didn't- no, she told herself. No more what ifs. She was here, and she would get through this, just like she got through everything else. They would see her, she would fight against them, they'd be amazed, and she'd disappear again.

Genma, the man that always stood at the gate, was, as usual, standing at the gate. He looked the same as when Sakura had last seen him, brown eyes, brown hair, a bandana covered his head like a forehead protector, and he had his trademark Senbon in his mouth and wore the standard jonin outfit.

Genma's eyes, usually half-lidded with boredom, widened when they took in her group strolling casually up to the gates. Sakura wandered to the back of the line, behind Zabuza, and walked as close to him as she possibly could. Haku was in the front. They figured that was the best way to walk, since Haku still looked like a child- or at least a very young adolescent, so there was a good chance that they would not attack her first. Zabuza walked a foot behind her, holding his sword and looking menacingly around. He was protective of his girl. It was obvious he hadn't noticed Sakura yet. He had noticed Zabuza.

Sakura couldn't figure out which was worse.

Sakura bumped into Zabuza's back as he halted. He spared her a short annoyed glance over the shoulder.

It was hot in Konoha. Hotter than Sakura was used to in a long time, and her hair was sticking to her body. She knew it would be warmer, so she wore only a white t shirt with black shorts, and fishnets over her unburned leg, bandages over the other. Half of her face was still wrapped up, and she'd left her hair down, a choice she now regretted. Her hair was curling up from the humidity, coiling around her body like pale pink snakes. The heat was both familiar and foreign at the same time. She had been so used to it before, the sweat, the heat, everything. Now she wasn't sure if she was on vacation, or coming to a spa after a long time at jail. She missed her home, but at the same time, she despised it. Even her old home was a weakness that she missed having. It was like chocolate to a dieter when she was on her period. Sakura was at a crossroads on how to feel. The only thing she was one hundred percent sure of was that she missed chocolate. So she pushed the thought to the back of her mind and lived in the moment.

Haku said nothing.

Genma said nothing.

Sakura said nothing.

"Well, can we go in or not?" Zabuza said with a raised eyebrow.

Genma stepped aside, and his companion (I can't remember his name. the spiky blue haired one that hangs with Genma), ran to go alert the Hokage.

As they entered, Sakura shifted to Zabuza's side, so Genma wouldn't see her, but it was a move made without purpose. He saw her trying to sneak away and called her name.

"Sakura?"

She froze, for just a moment, and then said," Nope, never heard of her."

Sakura kept at a brisk walk and Zabuza laughed quietly, shoulders shaking. He still didn't understand what happened to make Sakura leave her hometown, but the look Genma gave, he knew that was her, and he looked as if he'd seen a ghost. Did they seriously try to kill her? If so, then this was his kind of village. He thought Sakura was more useful than they had anticipated, but the cruelty of this place was phenomenal! He quite liked it. He saw those traits in himself. But then again, the man at the gate didn't look aggressive, as if she were a person that had raised from the dead, like a vampire, but a ghost of the past, a skeleton in the closet that he didn't want to face. He looked less like he wanted to kill her again, and more like he wanted to leap for joy and embrace her.

Maybe Konoha was just full of weirdoes.

He'd find out soon enough.

Review please. Let me know what you think? Let me know what you think might be a good story line. This is my firs fanfic and I kinda would appreciate some help, criticism, not too harsh though, I'm softhearted. But yeah, let me know if you have any ideas, or just something good to say. I'm going to try to update once a week, but my internet is random. This was done a while ago, but I just couldn't upload it. So yeah. Review.