The ghost of the future

Sakura stalked around the room, throwing her kunai and scrolls into a bag. She couldn't believe the nerve of her teammates. "Oh woe is us, we're all alone with nobody to love us!" She muttered bitterly, tossing some soldier pills into the front pouch.

She dropped the bag and retrieved her secret stash of money, "I'll show them fucking alone. I can't take this bull anymore." She tugged on a jacket and stormed out the front door with her bag on her shoulder. She didn't bother to lock the door behind her, no one would ever step foot in that place again anyway. Her teammates had never been inside. Not since her parents died.

She made her way towards the city gates, her earlier conversation with the goddaime running through her head. There would be hell to pay, Tsunade warned her, because with Orochimaru dead, there was no one she could kill to earn the same forgivness as the Uchiha had. No, there was nothing she could do to earn the forgiveness of the people who barely acknowledged her existance. "Feh, who needs them anyway." She sighed, the gates loomed ahead of her on the path. She held her breath anxiously as she approached the bench she had tried to stop Sasuke at, hoping that maybe, just maybe, the boys would be there.

They weren't. But, it wasn't devoid of life. There was a young blond woman waiting for her, with a huge grin. "Forhead! I see you're packed for our mission already!"

The pinkette froze and tilted her head to the side, "Ino-pig, what are you talking about?" "You know, our mission to go...and...uh...SURPRISE!" The blond shouted nervously, gesturing to the bushes beside them.

Nothing happened, and Sakura groaned. "Ino, I'm leaving." And she continued her long walk towards the gates. "Ok pinky!" Ino called out, "but you will be visited by three ghosts tonight!" Sakura spun around, but the blond was gone. "Huh. She's lost her mind, talking about ghosts. Pfft." She continued foreword, and almost immediately collided with tall figure. Covered in flour.

"Sai." She seethed, putting some distance between herself and the derranged, emotionally flat boy. "What the HELL are you doing here? You won't stop me! I'm leaving!" She tried to walk around him, but he grabbed her arm. "Ugly. I'm the...do I have to say it?..." he hissed the last part under his breath into a small ear piece, making Sakura huff impatiently, "I get it. You're ghost of 'my life's past'. I don't feel like taking a trip down memory lane right now, so bug off."

She pulled out of his grasp and began walking down the path, leaving Sai behind.

Attempt one: FAIL.

She was still muttering to herself when she saw Naruto, also covered in flour, eating about a dozen bowls of ramen on another bench.

He spotted her as she tried to duck out of sight and shouted a loud "HEY!"

Figuring she could at least humor him, since he had come to stop her, she waited for him to walk over to her. "Sakura-chan! How could you?" The hurt was laced in his voice, but she didn't falter. She couldn't stop now!

"No, Naruto, how could you!" She retorted, pressing her finger harshly into his chest and catching him off guard. "I've been beside you and Sasuke for years, I've always been there. And you never stop complaining about being alone! What about me!" She grew tired of his stunned silence after a few moments and stalked off, ready to continue on her way.

Attempt two: Double fail.

She watched three trees in paranoia as she heard them rustle. She felt someone come up behind her and she spun around, secretly hoping it was Sasuke. She was disappointed however to see Kakashi. At least he was novel free at the moment.

"I'm going to show you what you could have, if you decided to stay." He said with a smirk, putting his hands over her eyes before she could protest. He led her up the path and released her suddenly.

She blinked a few times, taking in the sight before her. Sasuke was standing in front of a banner that said, in Naruto's childish writing, "Why are you leaving?"

Sasuke himself looked pretty angry. She turned back to Kakashi with a scowl and bit out "Oh yeah, if I stay I get your scorn and anger. So much better than the cool indifference which is the reason I'm leaving anyway."

She tried to pass Sasuke, but again found herself being restrained. By several pairs of hands. Sasuke walked around so he would be in front of her and continued his glare.

"What the HELL are you doing?" He asked sternly, acting like a hypocrite in her opinion.

"That's rich. Does anyone else see the irony here?" She laughed coldly to herself. She was honestly surprised at how many of them had come, though she was certain that she not said good bye to Tsunade, they wouldn't have come. Well, except maybe Ino.

She felt a pinch on her shoulder and rolled her eyes, "Don't start with me pig."

Sasuke had crossed his arms while he awaited his answer.

"Oh, I'm sorry. That wasn't a rhetorical question?"

Try as she might, she couldn't get out of their grip, which had tightened with her snarky response.

"I was trying to leave, move to a new village, and make a new life, with friends who count me as at the very least company." She felt the hands holding her go slack and took the chance to twist out of their grip. She gave herself a few feet of space, so that she no longer felt like a misbehaving child under Sasuke's glare. It was almost like they'd known it'd be harder to her to face Sasuke's anger than anyone else's.

"Why?" Came Naruto's voice from the small crowd where she'd been standing. The almost silent whimper in his voice made her twitch. She couldn't believe she was cracking. She had to hurry this up and go. Or kami help her, she'd end up staying.

"Because! I am tired of being unappreciated and overlooked! Do you know how many freaking times this week you, Naruto," She pointed at him for emphasis, "have told me that you were completely alone and that I would never understand?" She shot him a glare before pointing at Ino.

"And YOU! You never visit, or call, or let me visit you! And then you yell at me for never being around!" She pointed in the direction of Kakashi next.

"You haven't helped me train in six years! And I begged! You've barely acknowledged my existence!" She was about to skip ahead to Sasuke, but felt weary from remembering everything that had made her think she should go. "And you," she said softly, with a life time's worth of heartache in her voice, "you've just never even cared. I never existed to you until I could heal at will."

She took a deep breath and turned away. She didn't like the hurt looks they were still showing her. Like they thought she shouldn't care about their disinterest in her. Well she did.

Sasuke felt a stab of guilt as she turned away. What she said wasn't completely true.

He'd always noticed her, and he'd even grown to love her. He just had never been good at showing his true feelings.

Naruto scoffed at what Sakura had said to him, he didn't think his words that bad. She would never know what he'd gone through growing up. And he voiced this.

Sakura felt the rage bubble up inside of her as Naruto told her that she at least had parents and wouldn't know the pain of an orphan.

"My parent's died when we were thirteen. A month after you left to train with Jiraya. I tried to contact you, but you wouldn't read my letters, and by the time you were back, I didn't want you to know."

Everyone had been out of the village the night her parent's had died. And as they had returned from their missions and obligations, she had decided they could figure it out themselves. No one had, not even those of them who regularly went to the grave yard. So she had made a game out of it, after a year, to see how long she could keep it to herself.

Turned out she could keep it for almost ten years.

That little confession had left everyone in awe.

"So you do know what it's like to be alone?" A voice spoke up, making her grind her teeth.

"For your information, I was never alone. Because I always found someone to spend time with, hence NOT ALONE!" There. She had wanted to make that distinction to the blond idiot for a long time now.

After all he'd been the one to tell her 'you're not alone as long as you have friends.'

Sasuke walked up to the pinkette and grabbed her shoulder. "I understand how you feel, but leaving won't solve anything." He said quiet enough that the others wouldn't hear him.

"If you stay no one has to be alone, and no one will be angry."

She was overcome by shock as his breath swept across her neck.

"Let's say I wanted to stay," She started, turning around slowly to look the Uchiha in the eyes.

She never finished her sentence because his soft lips brushed across hers, silencing any 'if's, ands or buts'.

Decided to use 'City of secrets' to make a string of one shots, some connected, some not.

Usually fluffy at some point.

enjoy.