Anemone
It was now 4:00am in the morning and Sakura was up doing push ups. Her internal clock woke her up, and she decided it was about time she started training. Her mother wouldn't be up until 7am, so that gave her about three hours to train. Her mother would wake her up, make her breakfast, and then she would walk Sakura to the Academy. That's where she would find Sasuke. How would she be able to help Sasuke? It's been about a year since the Uchiha massacre, it could already be too late. She thought with a frown. The only thing she could do to help Sasuke is show him that his teammates and Konoha wouldn't slow him down.
'Damn, that'll be tough 'Sakura grimaced slightly. Although, she would have Naruto's help. With a sly grin Sakura hoped to her feet and began practising a mixture of simple and complicated katas.
'Got to get this body in proper shape.' With that last thought she completely concentrated on her training.
Sakura could hear her mother climb up the stairs.
"Sakura-chan it's time to wake up!" Her mother shouted through the door. With a click Sakura heard her door open, and saw her mother walk in.
"You're already up!" Her mother said in a surprised voice.
"And don't you look so cute!" Her mother said with a slight squeal, and then ran to hug Sakura. Her mother noticed her red shirt.
"Did you know Sakura-chan…"she began in a sad voice.
"That your otou-chan's favourite colour was red." Her mother looked at her softly, and hugged Sakura a little tighter. Her father died a year after she was born, because of some unknown sickness. As a child Sakura always saw her mother as a happy figure never sad. Maybe she just didn't notice back at the time. Her mother had pictures of her father everywhere. There were some of him with her and some of him and her mother when they were dating. From all the information she had gathered about her father when she was older, he was supposed to be the male equivalent to her mother.
'So he would have been like Naruto.' She thought with a gloomy smile.
'I would have loved to have known you otou-san.' She thought sadly to herself. Slowly Sakura gently smacked herself in the face to get her out of her depressed mood.
Sakura looked at herself in her mirror. With her red long sleeved shirt and white shorts she was ready for her first day back at the Academy. The walk with her mother went very smoothly, until she ran into Naruto.
"Sakura-chan let's go find some new seats!" Naruto shouted, while practically running over everybody else. Sakura had found Naruto by the swings in front of the Academy sitting all by himself waiting for her. Her mother had hugged both of them and wished them luck before she headed to work.
So here Sakura was now being dragged around by Naruto. Even at this age, he was nothing but energy. Then she noticed a black haired boy.
"Hey Naruto" she shouted to get his attention. He turned to face her.
"Let's go sit by that kid. He looks kind of lonely." Naruto followed her finger with his eyes and saw who she was pointing at. He got a better grip on her wrist before he ran to the seats beside the black haired boy. As soon as they took their seats Naruto immediately stated talking to the boy.
"So what's your name" Naruto asked with a bright smile. Silence was his only answer. Naruto looked at the boy weirdly before asking again.
"Umm… hey you…"Naruto poked the quiet boy multiple times.
"So what's your name?" he asked in a loud voice. This time to Naruto got an answer.
"Hn." Was the reply of the mysterious young boy. Naruto started at the boy and blinked a couple of times. He suddenly burst out laughing.
"Did you hear that Sakura-chan" Naruto shouted at her while laughing. He was practically rolling on the chair.
"His name's Hn!" he laughed while pointing at the quiet boy the tears now pouring out of his eyes.
"What kind of a name is that?" Naruto's laughter was getting louder and louder. Sakura smacked her head against her hand. When would Naruto learn? By now she couldn't help but giggle too. His laughter was just too contagious.
"Stop laughing!" the quiet boy said in a loud voice while sending Sakura and Naruto a dirty look. Sakura could have sworn that his cheeks turned pink.
"…and my name isn't hn idiot!" he said while looking at Naruto.
"It's Sasuke!" He just about shouted. Sakura stared at Sasuke with wide eyes. Even though Sasuke's family had been murdered, he still hasn't turned to stone. The hate in his eyes was still there, but it was mostly filled with anger. Sakura could work with this; she now has a chance to fix Sasuke.
'We might just be able to save him!'
Lunch came quickly. Naruto had dragged Sasuke over to their table to eat lunch with him and Sakura. The next week Naruto no longer had to drag Sasuke over to their table. The week after that both Naruto and Sasuke came over to play at Sakura's house. Her mother was so happy that Sakura made new friends she let the boy's sleep over. It wasn't just Sakura or Naruto trying to open Sasuke up. Sakura's mother seemed to be doing a good job. Maybe it was because Sasuke seemed to take an immediate liking to her mother. In 3 months Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke would be inseparable.
'Naruto if you can somehow hear me, were doing it. We might just be able to save Sasuke…after all; he's still just a child.'
It was another bright day at Konoha's Ninja Academy, all peaceful and quite.
"Oye! Sakura-channnnnnn!" Came Naruto's loud voice. Sakura turned her head and saw both Naruto and Sasuke running towards her.
"Why are you leaving early Sakura-chan?"Naruto asked her with a confused expression.
"My tummy hurts Naruto" she said with a fake sob.
"So I'm gonna go home early." She lied perfectly, while grabbing something from her bag.
"You and Sasuke can have my bento." Naruto grabbed her bento without any hesitation. Sakura smiled in her head.
"Thanks Sakura-chan!" he said in a loud voice and enormous smile. He quickly shook his head and gave her a more serious look.
"Oh and um…feel better okay." He said while giving her a hug. She could see Sasuke trying to sneakily give her worried glances. Sakura quickly got out of Naruto's hug and said good bye to her friends and left. Her stomach didn't actually hurt. She actually needed to smuggle some training weights. With a sly grin Sakura stealthy made her way towards her target.