A Change of Fate
By: Da Cute Snowbunny

Hello everyone! Thank you peoples for those lovely reviews. Sorry it's taking it a while to update, but I'm just slightly lazy ya know. Hehehe, well I hope you enjoy reading this anyway!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, let's just say nothing will beat it's cliche-ness. Lol. Btw, this is the last disclaimer. I'm tired of writing these. It's pointless now since people already get the message.


REPLIES REPLIES REPLIES

Bunny: Yes, I've added this. I'm just commenting back to those reviewers who actually left me a little feedback. :)

Sakura-and-anyone-but-Sauske: I agree with you on Saku being with Shika, but most people like SasuSaku a lot. But, I'll see what I can do!

Ukeire: Don't worry! I'm definitely gonna continue this story! And yes...smoking is very bad. I don't mean to offend any smokers out there though. But while smoking, please try to think about all the other non-smokers out there and help protect their health? Thanks. :)

csimiamigirl73: Thank you for sticking to my story! Hehehe, sorry for making you worry. I just update slowly... (sheepish grin)

Long-Live-The-Jessenator: Don't be sorry! I'm happy you gave me some of your opinion. I'm also glad you like this story, I feel honoured. Neway, you'll find out what happens next further below!

Dreamergirl92813: Yep, I'll continue soon. Just maybe...after a little cat napping. :)

missyserena214: Wow, you seemed pretty pumped. Hehehe, well now you will know what happens next!

FakeCompassion: Hehehe, I'm guessing from the review you like Shika a lot? Hehehe, and don't shut up. I'd love hearing from you! D

HinaGuy749: Don't be sorry! At least you reviewed right? Well SakuNaru did seem like an option to me, but I don't think Sakura liked Naruto-kun THAT way. I think it's more like a brother/sister way. I hope it doesn't disappoint you too much.

END REPLIES END REPLIES END REPLIES


Recap:

"Hokage-sama. I have a question about one of my students." Asuma said in a quiet voice. The Sandaime looked up at his son's face, while taking his pipe out and blowing a puff of smoke out.

"About Haruno Sakura?" he asked inquiringly. Asuma just nodded before sitting down in one of the chairs.

Sarutobi sighed. "This was... a mistake of mine. You see..."


"...several months before the Kyuubi attacked the village, a spirit, calling itself the 'Unforgiving Blossom' escaped from it's container from the Ice Country." Sarutobi explained while taking another puff of smoke.

"The 'Unforgiving Blossom'? That name's so... odd." Asuma pointed out, his head swimming in the information given to him. The name reminded him more of Sakura than anything, giving him the image of an evil looking Sakura emanating a dark aura.

"So... is the spirit like a flower or something?" he asked again, making an assumption from the name.

"Not sure. You can't see it with the naked-eye, so no one knows what it looks like. No one even knows how the name came to be, but it's been used for as long as it existed. Up until a few decades that is, when someone released it from it's container." Sarutobi said matter-of-factly. Now, Asuma's face had a confused expression on it.

"Who let it out then?"

"That still remains a mystery to us all."

"Then how was this your fault?" Asuma still questioned, thoroughly muddled.

Sarutobi took a drag from his pipe before puffing out some smoke. "This is a rather long story. As I have said before, no one has ever seen this spirit's true form. But... people can hear it's angry words and feel it's dark presence. Rumour has it that it was seeking for the ones that locked it away."

Asuma nodded in understanding, letting Sarutobi know he could continue.

"During it's visit to Konoha, it was looking for a human vessel to reside in, as it could no longer sustain it's spirit form. In the dead of night, it came to find me. Imagine my surprise when I heard it speaking to me." Sarutobi said the corner of his mouth turning up into a half smile, remembering back to when it came to find him.

"How come you didn't tell anyone about that?" Asuma asked in curiosity.

"I had originally intended to notify the council of this, but I was afraid it would cause another child more grief than they need." Asuma's expression told Sarutobi he understood what he meant, as he was making a reference to Naruto.

"It wasn't until that child entered the academy did I meet the spirit's vessel."

"Sakura?" Asuma asked.

"Precisely. It had promised that in exchange for letting it take a vessel, it would give Konoha it's loyalty. When Haruno Sakura was born, she had a very weak heart. The spirit made it possible for her to live."

"Do her parents know about this?" Asuma asked. He himself still had mixed feelings about the whole "spirit" thing.

"Yes, though only her father knows. Her step-mother does not know however." Sarutobi stated. He had forbidden Sakura's father from telling anybody else, including his second wife. He didn't want Sakura to find out until it was the right time.

"But my mistake, still lies in allowing the spirit to stay. Haruno Sakura may be herself now, but my one fear is having the spirit take over. If that happens, I'm not even sure what kind of chaos that would cause." Sarutobi said, his expression grave.

"Don't worry so much. I'll make sure nothing would provoke the spirit into doing evil deeds." Asuma assured his father, and Sarutobi could only smile.

"Thanks old man, see you later." Asuma said before getting up from his chair and stretching a bit.

"You know Asuma, you better cut down on those cigarettes." Sarutobi advised before, he, himself took a drag from his pipe.

"You shouldn't be talking old man, you're just as bad." Asuma remarked before poofing away in a cloud of leaves.

Sarutobi sighed to himself. 'I'm gonna have to get someone to sweep those up later.'


'Ugh...why does my body feel like a ton of bricks?' Sakura thought to herself. Her fingers twitched a bit.

'But I feel so comfortable.' she thought as she let herself relax against the soft bed.

Slowly, her eyes cracked open a bit, only to see white.

'Good, you're awake.' her Inner self chimed, in a rather bored voice.

'Oh. You're still here.' thought to herself dully.

'Ouch. That hurt you know.' her Inner self said sarcastically. Sakura didn't have time to argue with herself. She was tired of that. On top of that though, where the heck was she anyway? The last time she checked, she was slumped against a wall in her home, getting ready to embrace eternal sleep.

She heard the faint sound of a door opening.

"Ah Haruno-san! It's good to see you awake." a cheery voice spoke, and Sakura's attention directed to the person.

A nurse.

Great. She's not in heaven.

"Haruno-san, you've been out for a day you know. You should come straight to the hospital if you can't treat your wounds properly. You almost died of blood loss." the nurse scolded her in a motherly fashion. Sakura smiled at the nurse and thanked her for treating her wounds.

"Mou... you troublesome woman. You just had to go and cut yourself up didn't you?" came the lazy yet slightly worried voice of her best friend. Sakura's eyes glittered with unshed tears. Someone did care after all.

"G-Gomen..." Sakura managed to say without letting any tears spill. Shikamaru stared at her for while before sighing heavily and pulled her towards him for an awkward one armed hug. Sakura gasped in surprise.

"Just cry. It'll make you feel better." Shikamaru said sympathetically while rubbing Sakura's back. Shikamaru knew Sakura had a lot of problems, but he didn't want to press her about them. The least he could do was offer a comforting shoulder. Sakura's bottom lip trembled before finally letting her bottled up tears loose. Her heart hurt so much, she didn't know how to put it in words. But now the pain was finally going away.

"Better now?" Shikamaru asked, his shoulder slightly wet from all the tears. Sakura laughed a little before smiling brightly at him and tackled him into a full hug. Shikamaru only blushed slightly at the sudden close contact but returned the hug anyway.

However, the two failed to notice two pairs of eyes watching outside.

"Does Shikamaru like Sakura?" Chouji asked quietly while munching on some chips. Asuma only glanced at the couple before shrugging.

"Who knows. After all, Shikamaru thinks absolutely everything's troublesome." Asuma joked and the two silently chuckled before entering the room.

"Ohayo Sakura. I'm glad to see you're feeling alright." Asuma announced loudly, so the couple quickly broke apart and blushed slightly.

"A-Arigato Asuma-sensei..." Sakura said timidly. Asuma smiled and placed a basket of fruit on her side table while watching his students all talk. He looked at Sakura, feeling sympathetic for the girl.

'I hope she would be able to take the news about her step-mother.' he thought before saying something about treating them all to BBQ in celebration to Sakura getting out of the hospital.

"Aweessoommme!" Chouji cheered while Sakura and Shikamaru chuckled.


After Sakura had been checked out of the hospital, Asuma had to break the news to her. He slightly guilty that he had to be the bringer of bad news for the girl. Although his student's family affairs weren't under his control, he truly felt for her.

Taking Sakura off to one side, he told her as gently as possible. "Sakura... this news may be a bit urm... shocking to you." Asuma started out slowly, which made Sakura worry slightly.

'Oh no... do I have some kind of incurable disease?' she thought, panicking slightly.

"Don't worry, it's not about your health." Asuma assured Sakura, as if reading her mind. Relieved, Sakura calmed down a bit.

"Your mother... Haruno Leiko... has left the village. Apparently, she's moved away with her fiance. Did you know about this?" Asuma asked as he peered into Sakura's blank emerald eyes.

'She left me.'

'She just left.'

'She didn't even say goodbye...'

'She left.' was what kept ringing in Sakura's mind.

'Shannaro! Finally, that ugly bitch is gone!' her Inner self cheered before punching the air in front of her. Sakura couldn't respond to that. What's going to happen next? Would she have to move to an orphanage?

"Sakura... are you alright?" Asuma asked with concern, placing a hand on her shoulder, snapping Sakura back to reality.

Sakura continued to stare at Asuma with a spaced out look. Then out of nowhere, a tear made its way down her cheek, followed by more. Even Sakura couldn't figure out whether they were out of happiness that her evil step-mother finally left, or out of sadness because she was truly alone in Konoha now.

"There there... I'm sure we can work something out." Asuma told her, while awkwardly patting Sakura's back, who was wiping away the tears with a confused expression.

"Ne Asuma-sensei, what happened?" Shikamaru asked him quietly when they rejoined the table.

"It's not my place to tell you. But for now, why don't you just enjoy your BBQ?" Asuma replied, forcing a smile before taking out another cigarette. Shikamaru could only watch Sakura, as she half-heartedly enjoyed the BBQ, forcing a smile on her face.


Luckily for Sakura, she was able to live Shikamaru until she becomes of age to live on her own. After hearing the story from Sakura, Shikamaru had offered Sakura to stay at his place, seeing as he was the only person she was close to. The Nara family didn't seem to mind the extra person. In fact, Nara Yoshino had been absolutely delighted at the idea of having Sakura stay, for she was convinced Shikamaru could use a little more "female influence", whatever that was supposed to mean. Sakura couldn't be happier that she got to stay with her best friend.

"Okaa-san, we're leaving!" Shikamaru announced as he and Sakura left for training. Today, Asuma said he had something important to tell them, so they couldn't be late.

"Bye! Be careful you two!" Yoshino called back just as they left. Team 10 was definitely in for a surprise today.

"WHAT?" everyone exclaimed, causing Asuma to cover his ears.

"This is entirely up to you though." he told them, just incase they weren't ready. He noticed Chouji looked nervous, Shikamaru looked like he'd rather not be here, and Sakura looked surprised.

Asuma had recommended them for the Chuunin exams, because he believed they would be ready. But judging from their reactions, they don't look too enthused about it.

"Ano Asuma-sensei, do we have have to enter as a team?" Chouji asked, his nervous expression still upon his chubby face. Asuma took out his cigarette and blew out a puff of smoke.

"Yes. Otherwise, you can't enter at all. I'll give you the forms tomorrow, so keep this in mind." he explained while taking a drag out of his cigarette. With that, he dismissed his team to do whatever.

"Hey Sakura, I'm gonna go watch clouds okay?" Shikamaru told her, though Sakura didn't seem to be paying much attention.

"O-Okay Shika." she said before going off on her own. Shikamaru just shook his head and mumbled something about women and conversations with themselves, before stalking off to his favourite spot on the roof. As she was walking, she failed to pay attention to where she was going and bumped into someone.

The other person was sturdy, but Sakura apparently had jelly legs. So inevitably, she fell.

"I-Itai..." she muttered before getting up to apologize to the person she had bumped into.

Crap.

"Watch it Forehead!" Ino screeched before stomping away, looking left and right for something. Or someone.

"SASUKE-KUN? Where are you!" she shouted around, hoping to find her beloved teammate.

Sakura slowly got up and was about to walk forwards, when she bumped into someone else! What's with everyone today? Though this time, this person had enough courtesy to prevent her from falling again.

"G-Gomenasai!" Sakura quickly apologized before moving away from the person. She looked up only to meet bright cerulean ones. (Bunny: Hah! Thought it would be Sasuke-kun?)

"That's alright. Ne, you're Sakura-chan right? The girl who defended me back at the academy?" he asked enthusiastically, and Sakura could only stare at him wide-eyed, clearly shocked. He honestly remembered?

"H-Hai!" Sakura replied with a small smile on her face. Naruto blushed slightly before speaking again with his hand scratching the back of his neck, a sign of nervousness.

"Ne ne... would you like to go out on a dat-"

"NARUTO-NII-CHAN!" but a cry of distress interrupted Naruto's question. Sakura and Naruto looked at each other in alarm, before quickly taking off towards the sound of the scream. When they had arrived, Sakura noticed a young boy (Who was addressed as Konohamaru by Naruto) being picked up by a bigger boy with a weird mummy thing on his back.

"That hurt you know." the boy said before lifting Konohamaru higher so they were face to face.

"I hate runts like you." he continued, giving Konohamaru a hateful glare.

"Let him go!" Naruto shouted at the bigger boy. Sakura observed the two people who were dressed in strange ninja garb. She had definitely never seen them around before, and assumed they must be foreign.

'Is that guy wearing make-up?' she thought mildly.

(snicker) 'Well this is a first. I must say, you kids are getting more and more amusing these days.' her inner self commented, but Sakura paid no attention. It wasn't very nice of him to be picking on little kids.

It was then she noticed Sasuke was also at the scene.

'Great, what did I miss while I zoned out?' she thought to herself a little exasperatedly as she watched them exchange words. Then she felt it... a sudden chilly feeling go down her spine.

'W-What is this feeling?' she thought to herself as she turned around to find the source, only to see nothing but a tree. Her stare lingered there for a while before she looked back to see the make-up wearing dude was about to unwrap the mummy looking thing on his back. Sakura gasped, was he seriously going to fight here?

"Kankurou! You're going to use Karasu?" she heard the female ninja say. So... his name was Kankurou. Her eyes darted back over to the girl, and noticed the ninja headband around her neck for the first time. It was the symbol of Suna, confirming her earlier suspicions of them being foreign ninja.

Then it occurred to her that they must be here for the Chuunin exams. Just as they were about to fight, another voice spoke up. The voice that sent even more chills down Sakura's spine.

"Kankurou, stop. You're embarrassing our village." the person said in a cold voice. Sakura, along with everyone else turned to look at the new speaker. The boy looked no older than they were, with flaming red hair and cold jade eyes ringed with black. She also noticed there was a tattoo for the kanji character "love" on his forehead.

'I-I didn't even sense him.' Sakura thought with shock. She knew she didn't sense him, but she had felt his cold and hateful aura. She was positive he had been the one giving off the negative vibes.

In a swirl of sand, the boy disappeared and appeared beside his teammates. Sakura felt his intense gaze on her, but she averted her eyes. She had a feeling making eye contact with the strange boy would be a bad idea.

"Let's go." he said and turned to leave, but Sasuke stopped him.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Me?" the girl asked with a tiny blush on her face.

"No. The guy with the gourd." Sasuke said.

"Sabaku no Gaara. You?" Gaara replied tonelessly.

"Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke replied with a small smirk on his face. Sakura could see that Naruto was angry that he once again, got no attention.

'It's always Sasuke Sasuke Sasuke!' Naruto thought angrily before bursting out.

"Hey! Do you wanna know what my name is?" he asked, with a little spark in his eyes.

"No, not interested." Gaara replied before giving Sakura another one of his creepy stares that Sakura just didn't like.

"What's your name?" he asked suddenly, surprising everybody. They had completely forgot that Sakura was even there, because she had been so quiet and still. Sakura stood with a stunned look on her face.

"I-It's not i-important! Really!" Sakura stuttered while waving her hands in front of her, backing up even further from the group. Gaara clearly sensed the fear Sakura felt towards him. With one last stare, he disappeared in a gust of sand along with his teammates. (Bunny: Sheesh, Gaara stares an awful lot.)

"Sakura-chan! You're not unimportant!" Naruto bursted aloud suddenly as he approached Sakura. Sakura just looked sheepish and scratched the back of her head, inwardly sighing in relief.

"W-Well... I didn't think it would be necessary. After all... we'll be meeting again." she muttered, while Naruto only stared at her in confusion and Sasuke looked a little interested in what she was saying.

"You know that Gaara guy?" Sasuke suddenly asked, startling Sakura a bit.

'Say yes and see what his reaction is!' her Inner self suggested evilly. Sakura was tempted, but she wasn't much of a good liar if he pursued the subject.

"Oh no! Ummm, it's just that... they're probably here for the Chuunin exams as well... so I thought... I might..." Sakura rambled on, unable to say what she wanted under two intense gazes coming from two males she hardly had any interaction with.

"What's the Chuunin exams?" Naruto suddenly asked, while Sasuke stayed silent.

"Naruto-nii-chan! Are you serious?" Konohamaru suddenly piped up. Naruto didn't reply, as he looked a bit embarrassed.

"It's the exam that lets you be promoted to a Chuunin!" Konohamaru said and looked as though he was disappointed in Naruto.

"Of c-" Naruto started but was cut off.

"Oi Sakura! There you are!" came the voice of Shikamaru. Everyone turned towards Shikamaru, who was standing in the middle of the road with his hands in his pockets. He blinked at the amount of people Sakura was with.

"It's getting late, we have to go home!" he called and started walking towards Sakura.

"You live with Shikamaru?" Naruto squawked, his eyes displaying the shock and jealousy he was currently feeling. Sasuke just stared at the pink haired girl he hardly ever knew.

"H-Hai." Sakura squeaked, a blush covering her ivory cheeks.

"It's nice meeting you again, Naruto, Sasuke-san, Konohamaru. Bye!" she said politely before running towards Shikamaru and started talking animatedly with him about all the events that had just occurred.

Naruto had a look of jealousy on his face alright.

"Man, I wish I could trade Ino for Sakura-chan." he grumbled before walking away. Sasuke didn't care for girls either way, but he's not one to complain if his fangirls are sent away.

To be continued...


Bunny: Phew! Chappie done! I'm actually satisfied with this chappie. It sounded alright to me. Neway, I hope this chappie has filled in some of the blanks spots about Sakura. Please review and tell me what you thought about it. Thank you!

Also, I'm still looking for pairing suggestions. Though please be open about this. I know a lot of you are asking for SasuSaku, but I think it might be a tad overused. But even so, I still love that pairing to death. So, the ending pairing for this will be majority rules ok? K!