Suiren: Thank you!
Enny: You make a very good point, and I thank you for pointing that out. Also, thank you for the compliments, and I hope that you enjoy the story to come. :)
Welcome to the first chapter with writing in it! I hope you enjoy it, especially since the previous two chapters haven't had any real writing in them. Hope you guys aren't too cross with me if that fact annoys you. But fear not, since the story is soon to begin! :D
Warning(s): This is an OC-centric fanfiction, where the OC is reborn into Sakura Haruno. As such, there will be a lot of changes to canon - because while I love Naruto, canon is honestly kind of depressing and sad and I want to change it. Also, OC!Sakura will probably be paired with Sasuke, so consider yourself warned.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own any of the characters. I own the changes to the story, and my version of Sakura, but that's it.
桜 Sakura 桜
Prologue
Past
I died in my first life because of alcohol.
My father was a drunk, a heavy alcoholic; he had been since my mom had died in a car accident a few years prior. He couldn't handle the loss of her presence in his life, and so he turned to alcohol in order to cope.
I didn't agree with his coping mechanisms - especially since Mom had died because someone couldn't wait to drive until the buzz of alcohol had left his system. But I still loved my father dearly, despite his shortcomings; I still could recall the time before she had died, when I still called him Daddy and he was kind and loving and encouraged me to do what I loved. And so, in honor of the memory of both my mom and my dad, before he became the coldly detached man who I considered myself related to only by blood, I took care of my father as his life washed down the drain with each gulp of beer he took.
I had to give up on many things I loved in order to take care of my father and pay for everything we needed. If it weren't for my mom's savings, I would have had to sell the house, too; as it was, though, I had to drop out of school to work full-time to pay for everything - including Father's booze.
My sacrifices were disregarded, and I was, instead, rewarded with snide comments, cruel insults, and being called by my mother's name.
I was so afraid that I moved out and lived with a friend; my father was so tripped into his psychosis that it was only a matter of time until he attempted to sneak into my bed and touch me in the way that two lovers might to one another. He didn't notice, of course, but I felt that, with a bit of distance, I might be able to survive like this - at least until he succumbed to his alcohol poisoning.
The evening of my death was like any other; I was late coming to the house because of my last karate competition, which I got first place in. I was planning on making dinner for Father, setting out breakfast, and then catching a cab to go back where I was staying.
I was greeted as I walked through the door, as usual, by my father calling me by my mother's name, talking to me as if I was she. He tried to come on to me, drunk off his ass, and I shoved him away. He snapped out of his psychosis, and, for some reason, he felt the reason to scream profanities, and insults, at me for pushing him away from myself.
I defended myself, explaining that he had tried to kiss me, calling me by my mother's name.
He sneered, then, and told me that I deserved to be raped for pretending to be my mother, wearing my hair as long as her and wearing make-up and her jewelry.
I retorted that I wore my hair long, like her, to keep a part of her with me always; I didn't want to forget, not for a moment, any part of her - not like him, who searched for relief at the at the bottom of a bottle of beer. The make-up was because I was a waitress and was expected to look nice - and I wasn't even wearing it at the time. I wore jewelry that had belonged to her because she had stated in her will that they would be mine, to do with as I pleased. I had just come a karate competition, so the only jewelry I had on at the moment was stud earrings, with my birth-stone in them, and a small heart-shaped locket that held a picture of my entire family in it.
However, Father was not willing to accept my answer, and the argument quickly devolved into a shouting match.
It ended, however, when Father shouted that he wished I would just disappear. At his words, something within me snapped, and I vowed, then, as I drew myself up, that I would never be so selfless as I was for him ever again.
"Fine," I had snapped scathingly, "your wish is my command. You want me to disappear? Very well. I will. Have fun paying the bills."
Before he could say a word, I stormed out of the house and stalked down the street, signalling for a taxi.
I was practically spitting in fury, especially when the taxis all refused to stop for me.
I could hear Father's feet slapping against the pavement behind me, and I prepared to whirl on him, maybe cuss him out a few times. However, I never got the chance to yell at him, express my emotions, and maybe - just maybe - reconcile with him, for a car came careening off the road, coming straight at me.
I didn't even have a chance to scream before my world exploded in a dizzying display of blindingly white headlights, the sound of screeching car tires, the acrid stench of burnt rubber, and excruciating, agonizing pain. It all went dark, and I found myself falling into the fathomless blackness.
And that's the first chapter with writing in it! Hope you enjoyed it!
Question of the chapter: Who is your favorite character in Naruto?
Ja ne!