I do not own Naruto
Within the next few days I will update again. If anyone sees any corrections that need to be made feel free to tell me because as of now I still don't have a beta. I know my chapters are short but I hope, at least for now, the quickness of my updates will make up for that.
With each day that was passing pretending everything was fine became harder and if she hadn't been so upset she would have been proud by how quickly she was learning to hide her emotions and lie directly without giving anything away. As it was though she didn't notice these things, instead she found that though it sounded easy in theory letting her parents go on the mission that would kill them would be one of the hardest things she would have ever done.
Still even with that knowledge the last week of her parents life followed the same routine Sakura had become accustom to. Not that she didn't wake up every night with nightmares that had at one point been real, and remembering how the bodies of each of her friends had been found, and how no matter what information they found nothing they did could stop Kohona from crumbling. When she woke up from these nightmares she would wish that she could drink like she had been doing in the future. Still no sake and a couple of nightmares was a small price to pay for a re-due.
When she woke up that morning there was nothing different than any other morning and it took her a while to realize what the difference would be. Sakura walked up to her dad and he said that he was sorry he couldn't take her to the park today. "Baby me and mommy are going on a mission for the Hokage."
Even though she knew this was coming it did nothing to stop the tears. Her dad picked her up and she could feel how worried he was. "Sweetie," her mom said coming up behind her and putting a hand on her back, "Don't worry we'll be back in a couple of days, a week at the latest."
Sakura nodded even though it was the last thing she wanted to do and let her dad wipe the tears from her eyes. "Now until we get back you will be staying with your auntie. Okay?"
Again Sakura nodded and fought back the tears so she could smile at them. "Kay, I love you mom and dad."
They smiled and she couldn't force herself to add, 'See you when you get back.' That was a lie and she knew it, she would never see them again. In a week the Hokage would come personally to tell her how sorry he was for her loss. This made her assume the mission was S-ranked and they had been picked out specifically by the Hokage. She also figured this was the case when she could find no information about their mission anywhere.
They ate breakfast together like nothing was wrong and had her pack some of her stuff and while they headed to Hokage tower her aunt stopped by and picked her up to bring Sakura to her house.
It was only now that they were gone and she was laying in what would officially be her new room in a week that she thought of a way to use this to her advantage. In the past or present or future, or god knew when it was anymore, but last time this happened she had waited for about a week and half before she had gotten word of what had happened. Now because of the files she had read and the information she had she knew they had known of her parents death five days before they had told her.
She understood why, she really did, but that didn't mean she couldn't use it to her advantage. She wanted the Hokage to survive. He was such a kind person and the a great leader. She could find a different way to get Tsunade here to help.
Her problem before this great idea was that she would never be able to speak with the Hokage and even when she did the conversation would be nowhere near privet so there would be nothing she could say, but if she waited a week then went to visit the Hokage herself as a crying child he would have to tell her that her parents were dead. He was a kind person and would do this in privet, so she could tell him then.
The thought still made her frown. She hated the idea of using her parent's death for something like that but she needed to make sure that things were different because she couldn't live through that again.
Thinking carefully about what she would say only lasted ten minutes before she decided that she would just go with whatever it was came to mind, she didn't want to sound like she was reciting a speech, like she was lying.
Sakura hardly noticed that it had been a whole day since her parents had left. She had been so caught up in her own mind that she hadn't even realized that time was still moving forward. In fact the only reason she realized it now was because her stomach was grumbling angrily. She was hungry and this was another thing that made her pause momentarily. She had spent years training herself not to be hungry unless she wanted to be she was surprised to have this simple need be so demanding again.
Sakura laid a hand on her belly and decided that she wouldn't eat. Being able to last on long missions with little food had its advantages. This was also a good thing if you were captured and not fed because food could be used as a bargaining chip and hunger was a hard thing to fight. She would eat only energy bars twice a day. This would be enough not to die of hunger but little enough so she wouldn't be forced to eat often on missions. As a side note it would also help with the bell test when she turned twelve.
"Sakura, it's dinnertime!" her aunt called upstairs to her.
It was then Sakura realized that she had forgotten about her aunt when coming up with this brilliant idea. It was a good thing though that her aunt would let her eat in her room and that she started getting less and less caring after her parents were pronounced dead and she declared that she wanted to be a shinobi.
Sakura made sure to be loud going down the stairs and to her aunt. "Auntie, can I eat in my room?"
Making sure to make her eyes big and sad Sakura used every talent in her four year old arsenal to make sure she got her way.
Her aunt looked down and sighed, "Sure Sakura but bring your plate back down here when you are done. Do you want juice or water?"
"Water." Sakura answered immediately before smiling and taking her stuff up to her room.
Now alone she sat on one end of her bed and placed her food on the other end. The cup of water sat on her dresser next to her and Sakura pulled out an energy bar and started to eat and try to ignore the temptation of the much tastier food. She really was glad that she had talked her dad into giving her some of his energy bars so she could 'practice eating like a shinobi'.
It was hard to eat the tasteless bar instead of warm meal in front of her but this time around she would not be weak. She would not be the one holding back her team and she would not be left behind.
The bar was gone before she realized it and she emptied her plate out the window where a few birds and cats started eating it.
After clearing her plate and bringing it back down to her aunt to watch she went back up to her room and looked out the window. Tomorrow she would get some weights, maybe five pounds each, to put on each ankle and wrist. That would help her stamina and muscles develop. She also wasn't risking anything anymore since she was sure that her aunt wouldn't try to lift her up but even if she did she could just explain it as a shinobi thing. That always made her aunt stop listening and because she understood so little about shinobi she would accept the answer. Tomorrow she would also go to the park and finally talk to Naruto. It had been extremely hard, harder than she thought possible, to see Naruto alone and not be able to do anything about it. Naruto was her brother and she couldn't imagine life without him at all. It had been hard enough after he was killed. Hinata and him had finally gotten together and her dad was forced to concede, not that he would argue much, because Naruto had already been promoted to Hokage. She would give anything for him to be happy and right now he was anything but.
With that decided she had nothing left to think about and nothing more to do, well except her bath, which would be ice cold tonight, and her pushups, though not in that order. That night when Sakura fell asleep she knew the nightmares would come and longed for when she would be allowed to drink, though she wasn't sure she wanted to pick up that habit again. She shook it off knowing that it could not be avoided and tired to hurry through her nightly activities.