Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Not a Fairy Tale


I wake up to my alarm clock ringing in my ear. Confused and disoriented I force my eyes to open and get up and look around. I fell asleep. I snatch the clock up quickly and look at the time, only to shut it off and sigh in relief. I'm not late.

Looking down I see the jewelry box with the harmless looking piece of paper on it. I want to rip it up. I want to burn it, but I know I won't. I know I can't.

"Sakura are you awake yet?" Tsunade calls from the depths of the house. Probably the kitchen.

"Yeah! I'll be down soon."

"Okay! I'm making toast for breakfast."

"Try not to burn it!" I call back and begin my morning routine, heading out the bedroom door just in time to hear Tsunade muttering how I'm so mean to her so early in the morning.

I smirk, "I can hear you." I call out in sing-song. Despite reading the wishes last night, everything seems better. Like the whole world is smiling. Everything seems new, like the past has washed away.

Sometimes it's nice to pretend.

I walk downstairs an hour later only to discover burned toast. "I thought I told you not to burn it."

"No." Tsunade says through a mouth full of toast. I eye her plate suspiciously. Her toast isn't burned. "You said to try not to burn it. I just gave you the burned bread." She smirks victoriously.

"You are a horrible person. I may have to break your alcohol bottles."

"You wouldn't." Her eyes widen.

I smirk, "I've done it before."

Glass shatters everywhere.

"Sakura, what the hell are you doing?"

"This stuff will kill you!"

"Sakura! Don't touch those. Put them down right now."

More glass scatters across the floor.

"No!"

"Sakura!"

Another bottle breaks.

"Sakura Haruno. You will stop this at once."

A crate overturns.

"Fine."

"My, my, someone's in a good mood today. That Kiba boy seems nice. I approve of him."

I blush. "What are you talking about?"

"Well aren't you gonna marry him?"

I sit down and start munching on my toast, "Um, no. We're not even going out."

"Well maybe you should be. I think he likes you."

"Ugh!" I groan. "This toast is horrible."

"Then stop eating it. Now, you and I never finished our little talk."

Shit. "What talk?" I'm so innocent.

"Don't play innocent with me." She turns serious, and I know she's not going to let this go. All I can hope for is another Kiba-intervention, but I know it's a long shot. "You and I both know you weren't just cleaning things up. Now what were you doing?"

"I was rooting through some old things…"

"Why Sakura?"

"I was looking for something."

"What?"

"Myself."

She looks confused.

"I've been dead since the incident haven't I?"

"Sakura..." She looks into my face. I can tell she's trying to determine what's brought this up. Why I'm suddenly asking her these questions. It seems like she's found whatever it was that she was looking for. "Yes," she says it with a huge sigh, "You've been…gone for the past few years."

"I miss being me. I miss being happy. And you know what I miss most of all? It's not my parents or my friends, or even my boyfriend. I miss living, enjoying everything."

Tears start cascading down my cheeks.

"Oh, Sakura." Tsunade starts crying as well.

"And you know what the saddest thing of all is? I don't know how to be the old me anymore. I don't remember what it's like to live. To enjoy living."

"That's okay Sakura." She comes around the table and hugs me. "That's the great thing about life. You can always learn how to enjoy it. Even if you've forgotten."

"I want to repaint my room. Is that okay?"

"Sure." She wipes the tears from her eyes. "We'll go shopping after school. We're going to buy you a whole new room."

I smile. "I'd like that. Thank you."

"For the new room? That's nothing. I've been waiting for you to ask me." She smiles, but the smile turns into a frown when I shake my head.

"No not for the new room, thank you for putting up with me."

"'Course, sweetie. I love you. Now come on. We've got to get to school. Unlike Kakashi, I can't get away with being late."

"That doesn't stop you from trying, now does it?"

"Nope. But Shizune will kill me if I'm late and I quite prefer living."

She laughs and I laugh along with her.

"We can't have that now can we?"

"Nope." She grabs her car keys. "You wouldn't mind walking home, would you? I have something to do after school and when I get home, we can go shopping."

"Okay. What do you have to do?"

"Some stupid errands Shizune claims are good for the school."

I hide my smile as I get into the passenger seat.

"Well that's just too bad."

"Stop being sarcastic. You don't know my pain."

"Which is exactly why I enjoy it." We head towards the school's parking lot.

"You were so much nicer to me when you were all grumpy."

"Grumpy?"

"You heard me!"

I laugh and slam the door shut behind me. I wave at Tsunade and run to my locker, where Kiba's waiting.

"Hey!" I chirp, with a wave, before putting in my combo.

"Hey." He replies watching me, with his hands in his pockets. "The jerk wad squad is gone; they were here for a full half hour, probably waiting for you."

"Jerk wad squad?"

"Yeah it's what I named them."

"So…what were you doing here for half an hour?"

"What are you talking about?" He looks at me like I just told him that Akamaru could talk. Fascinated, shocked, and a bit horrified.

"Well you wouldn't know they'd been here for half an hour if you weren't here as well."

Kiba starts sputtering, and it's really amusing. "I wasn't here for half an hour, if you must know." He's finally able to spit out. "I was here for an hour before you got here. And I was here waiting for you."

I yank my books out and shove them into my bag.

"Aww! You're so sweet!" I smile and then lean forward, go on my tippy toes and pinch his cheeks. "And your cheeks are so pinchable."

"Sakura-stop-what are you doi-stop! The pain!"

"Neh, Sakura, don't even think of coming near me with that look on your face. Sakura-what are you-no! Back away! Back away!"

"Come here Naruto."

"WAH!"

A few minutes later, Naruto is rolling around in the grass clutching his cheeks.

"My precious face!"

I laugh hard, when I finally let go. He's holding his cheeks and backing into a corner. "You horrible monster!"

"You're horrible Sakura. A monster. Did you really think that you'd get away with what you did to us? We're going to come back and get revenge."

"Please, no! It was a mistake! I didn't mean to tell anyone. I was on all kinds of drugs. Please!"

"That's no excuse, Sakura…"

They start walking away.

"Please. Don't leave…don't leave me."

But they can't here. They're too far gone.

I sober up quickly. The memory's like a bucket of cold water and it's left me dripping from head to toe in misery.

"I have to go Kiba."

"Saks? What's wrong? Did I say something? I didn't mean it. You can pinch my cheeks all you like."

"…it's too late."

"No. I think we should get to class. Come on."


Sorry for not updating in a long time. Forgive me?

I've been having writers block, projects, and finals.

Actually I should be studying for finals right now but I felt really bad and couldn't concentrate. Now that I've finished this chapter, hopefully I can study and pass.

You should all thank Cream Tigress, an anonymous reviewer of mine, who helped me remember the reason I started writing this fic. That reason, plus a threat to force me to watch Dora is the reason I've finished with this chapter.

Review?