ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏʏ ᴡʜᴏ ғᴇᴇʟs ʟɪᴋᴇ sᴜɴsʜɪɴᴇ
ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ
ᴋᴇᴇᴘ ʏᴏᴜʀ ғᴀᴄᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ sᴜɴ ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪʟʟ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ sᴇᴇ ᴛʜᴇ sʜᴀᴅᴏᴡs.
Sunshine.
That's what the boy sitting on the swing feels like. He feels like sunshine. His chakra radiates awarmth that seems to cloak him from the outside world, enveloping him in his own personal bubble.
It was tainted though. With silvers of sadness and loneliness so deep, it reaches her soul. His face betrays it too. The loneliness and sadness that is intertwined with his beautiful, warm chakra and she suddenly feels a strong urge to take it all away. To protect him. To feel his warm, sunshine chakra pure. Free of anything but happiness.
Haruno Sakura has always known she is different. Ever since she was able to understand the world around her, she just knew that she isn't like everyone else. She understands that it isn't normal to sense people's chakra to an extent that she could feel most of their emotions.
Her parents and the medic-nin who have been in her life since she can remember say she's chakra sensitive. Her mind and body are so in tune with each other that she feels almost every chakra in her immediate range to an absurd degree.
The head medic who helped with her birth theorised that it has something to do with the condition of her birth. Apparently, Sakura was still-born. Her heart restarted a minute after she was born to the world, coaxed by chakra which must've caused some damage in her young coils. It was a medical miracle she even lived.
Her short five years of life were spent in isolation. Cooped up indoors never taking a step out the door. Not even out her back yard. Her parents raised her as best as they could but because of her sensitivity, she was a very fussy baby.
Her bedroom walls are plastered with chakra barrier seals specifically made for her by her father, which were than painted over with baby blue paint. The people who visit are limited and the number of times her mother gets to go out is also cut short. Which all leads to baby Sakura not having a slightest idea of social interactions outside her parents.
The day she is cleared to go out into the world for the first time is on her fifth birthday. Her mother is to accompany her but she doesn't mind. She has never been anywhere without her anyways.
Mother and daughter both agree to go to a quiet place that doesn't have a lot of people as so to decrease the chance of Sakura getting overwhelmed with the exposure of chakra. That is how she finds herself trying but failing to come up with a way to approach the boy with the chakra of sunshine.
She is in a loss, really. She has read up on how interactions are supposed to be like but all the books her father has gifted her never really state how to start them. So she decides to approach her current predicament like she does all she has faced in the past, by confronting them straight on.
"You feel like sunshine." Sakura points out quietly and watches in small amusement as the boy who has hair as bright as his chakra, jerk and almost fall off the swing in surprise.
"Huh?" The boy mumbles, lifting up his head to stare at her with blueblueblue eyes that rival the sky with their bright colour.
"You feel like sunshine." Sakura repeats her earlier statement and notices with slight interest when she see's the boy almost unconsciously inch away from her. "Why are you sad?"
The question tumbles out of her mouth before she can stop it and she frowns, mentally noting to herself to try and control her impulses in the future.
The boy looks at her as if she is one of the aliens her books mention in passing. They stare at each other for what feels like forever and Sakura can feel a blush creep up the length of her neck and spreading all over her face.
"Why aren't ya shouting at me and callin me a demon, dattebayo? And how do ya know I'm sad? Why are ya even talkin to me?" The boy asks, sounding confused. He had stopped inching away from her the moment she asked why he was sad.
Sakura feels the rush of heat that was flaring on her face cool down and her previous frown returning. She doesn't know how to answer the questions he just asked her correctly.
"Why would I call you a demon? I don't like shouting much. It's all just an excuse to make a lot of noise." Sakura answers honestly, looking over to where she last saw her mother and finds her waving her over with a smile. It is time for her to go.
"And well, like I said earlier, you feel like sunshine. It's my first time feeling the sunshine. It's... nice. But your chakra is a lot nicer. You feel sad too. I want to take the sadness away though. That way, you'll feel warmer. And happier."
The blonde stares with his mouth agape at the girl in front of him and watches her smile shyly before waving and running towards a lady who was sitting at the park bench.
The only thing that came out of his mouth long after she disappears around the corner of a large building is a quiet and dumbfounded,
"Huh?"