Age 784 – Feburary 21st

Three months.

Three months of Sakura waking up at first light every day, trudging into an oversized shirt and some shorts, and then proceeding to roll down the stairs and out into the chill of the morning air. Three months of doing at least two hundred pushups. Single-handed. Sometimes with only one finger. Three months of running around the entire Briefs family compound twenty times—a compound large enough that it could apparently house an entire race after their planet was destroyed—before returning to her training. Three months of being Vegeta's student, a position that had set Bulma off like an atomic bomb.

Sakura was not a morning person, not by any means, and so this was torture enough. Add in the fact that she went outside to get the shit beaten out of her and Sakura's general outlook on her day was rather bleak. Despite this, however, Sakura couldn't bring herself to complain—in fact, she felt a sort of familiarity from her situation, the early hours and the constant bruises. She knew that the moment she said she couldn't take Vegeta's no-nonsense pace, Bulma and Trunks would put a stop to it at once, and while their protectiveness warmed her heart she couldn't help but feel an old pang of irritation.

Someone else had treated her like this once, she was sure. Like she was fragile, easily squashed like any other common flower.

Shaking off her sense of nostalgic melancholy, Sakura slapped her palms against both of her cheeks and made her way out the front door, pulling her hair back into her now commonplace ponytail. Despite that last memory she'd regained regarding her hair, Sakura had made a decision to allow her hair to grow out; a small voice in her mind, her Warrior's Instinct as Vegeta referred to it, told her that having long hair was a weakness. That her long hair put her in a horrible position, that it represented how much she'd depended on him as a person—and Sakura wanted to prove that insecurity wrong.

She was stronger than she had been back then. She would never be put in a situation where her hair would be a weakness ever again. Her teacher would be sure of it. She would be sure of it.

Smiling to herself as the cold air hit her bare skin, Sakura began her jog out to the middle of the open plains in the back of the Brief's Compound where Vegeta trained her, her feet traveling the now familiar path with ease. Green eyes locked in on her mentor's position in the distance, causing her to pick up her pace, however the closer she got, Sakura realised Vegeta wasn't alone—there was another man beside him, taller and even more muscular than Vegeta was, with black hair that went in all directions instead of straight up like her teacher's. Once she was within speaking distance, Sakura slowed to a walk and steadily approached the pair, blinking up at the pair of onyx-eyed men who turned to watch her approach.

"Is this her, then?" The stranger asked, his lips stretching in a broad smile as his appraising gaze looked her up and down. He wore an orange gi that struck her with familiarity—in fact, his smile and hair, his face… his clothes… Sakura felt as if she should know him. "Sakura, right? I'm Goku! Vegeta was just telling me he was training you for the tournament later this year!"

This drew her attention away from his appearance. "Tournament?" Sakura asked, raising her brows and turning her questioning glance upon her teacher. "What tournament?"

"It's the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament, girl," Vegeta responded in his usual gruff voice, rolling his eyes as if she should have known such a thing, amnesia be damned. "It's an event where all of Earth's strongest compete, and I fully intend to have you combat-ready by then. You will enter as my student and beat this buffoon's own so-called prodigy."

"Gohan?" Goku asks, eyebrows raising as he glanced back at Sakura. His expression of incredulity irritated her for some reason, and Sakura felt as if her pride has been wounded by his unsure expression. Gohan hadn't seemed all that impressive when she'd met him… "Well, sure, I think I'd like to see them go at it—but how long have you been training her?"

"It doesn't matter how long, Kakarot," Vegeta scoffed, shrugging his shoulders before looking back at his student and smirking at her bewildered expression. "She's strong for a human—fast, too."

Kakarot? Is that some kind of nickname? Sakura wondered, tilting her head slightly. Reaching up and tugging on her longer pink strands, she narrowed her eyes and fixated at the surprisingly familiar word. Vegeta had mentioned a Kakarot before, but she'd thought it was someone else, not another name for Goku. But the mention of competition made even more sense than before—Goku seemed to be Vegeta's worst rival.

"Enough chatter, girl," Vegeta's voice snapped Sakura out of her musings, his dark eyes not even glancing back at her as he dismissed her. "Get to your usual rounds—you'll be sparring with me in two hours."

"Yes, Shishō," Sakura answered with a slight smile, turning to begin her usual rounds.


The Earth rumbled below her feet as she surveyed her surroundings.

Ground broken across an entire clearing, rocks strewn throughout the crater, trees upheaved and lying on their sides. She could feel two eyes filled with surprise trained on her, but she was more focused on the sensation of the ground breaking beneath her knuckles, remembering the way her chakra had pulsed from her chest through her muscles in her arms into the centre of her fist. She could still feel the tingle of the huge release of energy, a pleasant and comfortable warmth.

"She focuses as much chakra as she can into her fist, and release it all at once…" A faceless man says, his hair a blur of silver and her words almost surrounding her. She can't place who he is, but she knows he means her. She can feel his surprise and awe in the tense air between them. "Without precise chakra control, she couldn't do it."

Lips twisting in a confident smirk, Sakura glanced up and flicked her hair, noting that for a moment she felt like everything she'd ever fought for was suddenly within her reach.

"Kakashi-sensei… I found you."


She awoke drenched in a cold sweat.

Chakra control. There it was again. She could actually recall this memory-dream, even if it was still shrouded in a haze of mystery. Chakra meant little to her, as did the concept of controlling it—but it was there, in the back of her mind, the knowledge churning in the depths on her subconscious. Sitting up in her bed and allowing her sheets to pool around her waist, Sakura lifted a trembling hand before her and flexed her fingers, eyebrows furrowing as without a thought that strange thrum of warmth seared through her muscles. The core was focused in the palm of her hand, her knuckles burning and craving something to slam into, and for a moment Sakura simply reveled.

Was this, perhaps, the ki Vegeta had been trying so hard to have her find? Was chakra simply another term for that energy inside that she simply couldn't connect with? Goku and Vegeta both had been somewhat dissatisfied with her inability to fly, to harness the same power they'd both had. Her teacher was proud of her somewhat abnormal physical strength and speed, but Sakura was still painfully human when compared even to young Pan.

Something in her dream rolled across her mind and Sakura moved, standing to quickly drop her cotton slip and slide into something more efficient for her plans. Shimmying into white canvas shorts and a red top, Sakura simply opened her window and jumped, narrowing her eyes as she realised she'd been channeling this charka all along. The warmth spread to her legs and supported her feet, softening her blow in a way that she'd never even known she was doing.

Perhaps this was why she could take a hit from Vegeta and remain standing?

Narrowing her eyes, Sakura decided to put this strange development to the test. Pushing off from the grass where she'd landed, Sakura allowed the burning of her heart to race down and propel her forward, strength and speed seeming to multiply in an impressive feat as she sped toward the treeline by the back of the Brief's compound and beyond, lungs burning with exhilaration.

She lost track of how long she bounded forward, testing the limits of how quickly she could dash from place to place, from tree to tree—after a particularly fast burst forward, a term flickered into her concious mind and she stilled, skidding on the damp grass. Nearly falling to the morning dew coated ground, Sakura took a moment to mull over the phrase and look back at how much distance she'd covered. She wasn't even winded yet, but she couldn't even hear the sounds of the city behind her any more.

"Shadow-step, huh?" She couldn't recall the name of the man with silver hair that had taught it to her, but the basic mechanics were slowly filtering back into her memories. The ability to utilise one's chakra, encasing themselves and shooting forward within eyesight to appear in another location. Particularly useful at night…

Just who was she?

Clenching her fist at her side in frustration, once more the burning desire to punch something poured through her, igniting her hand in an unforgiving flame that seared beneath her skin. Green eyes snapped open and Sakura screamed, a mighty bellow that encompassed her rage, her sorrow, her confusion… her desire to know why she could do this, who she was. Snapping her arm back and then thrusting it forward with every ounce of strength in her body, Sakura felt tears blur her vision and her throat crack with the force of her battle cry right before her fist met earth.

And then the world exploded.


"Where the hell is she?"

Vegeta was unimpressed with his student's uncharacteristic tardiness this morning. The sun was cresting the horizon and she was still nowhere to be seen. Clenching and unclenching his jaw as he fought to keep his short fuse under control, his dark gaze swung to meet Trunks' concerned eyes with little pity. Surely the girl had overslept.

"This isn't like her," the lavender-haired teen murmured with a frown, his lips twisting as he against found his eyes drifting toward the door of their home. Where was she? Sakura was always on time—hell, some days she was earlier than he was! His legs were itching to launch him in the direction of her window just to knock and see if she was even awake… "Dad, do you think—"

His words died on his lips as the front door opened, relief along with irritation seeping through his limbs as he stepped forward once, mouth already open to pick fun at her for being late after all the crap she'd given him every morning… but his mother instead stepped outside, pausing and staring at them from the distance. Even from there, Trunks could make out the troubled expression on her face and immediately his stomach dropped, his head snapping to look at his father in alarm.

Vegeta's expression was still fierce, but Trunks could see the way his eyes had widened minutely.

"Have you seen Sakura!?" Came Bulma's shrill bellow as she started towards them, blue eyes creeping along the horizon for any sign of the pinkette. "I stopped by her room just in case and saw her night gown on the floor, so I… figured… what's wrong?"

"She isn't in her room?" The Saiyan Prince's words were short and clipped, his frown deepening as he focused on his wife's own frown.

"No… I thought she was training…"

Trunks cursed under his breath and immediately shot into the air, head swiveling to see if maybe she'd simply started on her rounds and they'd missed her. Why did she have to be the anomaly without a power level, huh? Couldn't just be normal with normal hair and normal eyes and not disappearing in the middle of the night?

His father was beside him in a flash. "Your mother is contacting Kakarot. We're going to search the forest and that fool will take the city. Fan out and find her."

'I'd almost think he cared if he didn't sound so pissed,' Trunks snarked internally, simply nodding before he shot off, dipping low and then zipping between the trees on the back half of their property.

Cerulean gaze flickered at every shadow, at every leaf that moved, and it wasn't until he was almost a quarter of a mile out that he stopped to asses deep gouges in the earth. They were moving forward, like something had kicked off and jumped with enough force to upheave the grass behind them.

"What… the hell?" Leaning forward, Trunks knelt to the ground and allowed his fingertips to touch the soil, surprised to find it actually warm to his touch. A familiar tingle against his digits sent recognition flaring through his mind, but he couldn't figure out why the sensation was familiar.

"What is it!?" Trunks, practically jumping out of his skin at the sudden boom of his father's voice, fought not to yelp and instead stood with a straight spin, eyes widening as he regarded him. Hadn't they split up…?

"I dunno. Warm though. Think Sakura's following whatever this is?"

Narrowing his eyes, Vegeta simply sped off again, leaving his flabbergasted son in his literal dust before the Briefs son took off after him. They sped together, winding between the saplings and large trees surrounding them, in silence, simply changing direction whenever those massive gouges did. Trunks had half a mind to speak up and ask Vegeta if they should keep going when a scream followed by a massive rumble shattered the silence between them.

The sound was Earth-shattering—like two great mountains had sped into one another and exploded upon impact. Trunks could hear the waterfall of debris crashing around them, narrowly dodging a large boulder that decimated the trees before them and went crashing into the darkness. Cautiously, Trunks moved forward before stopping dead at the destruction lying in wait…

Rocks and trees strewn across a makeshift clearing-turned-crater, practically larger than any football stadium he'd ever seen, steaming in the chilled morning air, while a single person stood directly before them at the edge. Her back was turned to them, but Trunks could see that she was breathing normally despite the grim coating her form, despite the blood steadily falling from her bruised and cut knuckles. Her unbound hair danced around her shoulders in the breeze as she took in the scene of destruction.

"Sakura…?"

He hadn't even realised he'd spoken, but at the sound of his voice he saw a tremor shoot up her spine before her shoulders went rigid and her arms began to quake. Slowly, as if afraid of looking at them, Sakura turned and stared at the two Saiyans before her with an unreadable expression. He could see a single streak in the dirt that marred her face, almost as if a tear had managed to sneak down her face without her realising, but she simply looked… powerful. Beautiful, even, surrounded by the destruction behind her.

"What did this?" He asked carefully, his senses reaching out to feel for any kind of enemy nearby and his eyes scanning the trees behind her. She was wounded and something had attacked her, he was sure. His eyes went back to her hand and he stepped forward, hands already reaching to grab her hand to inspect the damage. "Are you okay?"

She was silent for so long that even Vegeta was narrowing his gaze, watching her body language and simply coming forth with more questions than answers. She'd left the house early in training clothing—had she seen someone and pursued them? Had she been attacked? Something in her gaze told him no, and before Vegeta could snap at her to speak the hell up, she finally opened her mouth to speak.

"I did this."


It's been a while! Thanks to everyone that's been sending me messages with encouragement. I know this took a long hiatus, but I've had some hectic stuff come up in life and had to make due. I hope this chapter was enjoyable; it's part one of two parts.