I don't own Naruto

Sakura

Haruno Sakura awoke long before her alarm even began to ring. She has yet to find the will to turn it off so it continues to ring. It had been one of those sleepless nights again; nights where she would have horrible nightmares and wake up in a cold sweat. After that, Sakura usually stayed awake the rest of the night out of fear. The nightmares were terrible. Even worse was that they weren't nightmares.

No. She wouldn't go there now. She wouldn't allow herself to. It would only bring more suffering.

Sakura finally found the will to shut off her alarm. Deciding that there was no point in lying around anymore, she got out of bed. She then proceeded to grab some clothes and head to the shower.

After Sakura exited the shower, she checked the time. Seeing that there was an extensive amount of time before she needed to leave, Sakura congratulated herself on herself on her perfect timing. She had just enough time to do her makeup.

Sakura's makeup routine could not be described as normal. She knew that most girls didn't like to wear a lot of makeup. She also knew that most boys didn't like girls with a lot of makeup. But this wasn't about other people. Sakura would spend an enormous amount of time lathering her face with makeup every morning. No, she wasn't stupid. She knew that it was not attractive but that wasn't the point. The point was that it covered her face. Her entire face. The face that she could no longer force herself to look at without feeling disgust and pain.

It wasn't always like that. Sakura used to be like any other high school girl. Worrying about boys, her grades, and school dances. She remembered that she used to be quite pretty. Some would even call her beautiful. She had a few boyfriends in the early years of high school but nothing that ever lasted. She used to be popular too. Most people were friendly when she would walk down the halls of her school. She had a close-knit group of friends too. But she eventually stopped hanging out with them. Then she stopped replying to their texts and didn't answer their calls. After that, she would avoid them in school and stopped eating lunch with them. They tried to reach out to her but Sakura would have none of that. She didn't know if they missed her or not; she doubted it. Who would miss her?

After a while, Sakura finished her makeup. She inspected her handiwork. Satisfied that none of the old Sakura was showing, she reached for her perfume. She didn't even want to smell like the old Sakura. 'Damn', she thought. 'How did I not notice that I was out of perfume? Oh well, not much I can do about it now.' She made a mental note to pick some more up after school. Her perfume was strong and not in the good way. She knew this but, like the makeup, the allure of the scent wasn't the point of wearing it.

Finally finishing her morning routine, Sakura left for school. Mentally, she was rebuilding her walls. These walls would protect her when the other students would gossip about her when they thought she wasn't listening. Teenagers really were heartless bastards. But secretly, she liked that they talked about her like that. The harsh words they spoke about her gave her a scapegoat for her pain. It was easier to think about the gossip as the source of her pain and it prevented her from thinking about the true source of her anguish.

A/N: Please review.