The world owes her nothing.
She knows this like she knows the sky is blue (not red, because why would the sky be red, that's just silly-). Like she knows that the grass is green and that her mother loves her and that her forehead is maybe a bit larger than average. The world owes her nothing.
It's a strange and sudden observation. She'd been in the process of squirming her way into a hollow tree trunk, a hiding spot she had discovered once while trying to escape Ami and her incessant teasing. Like now.
She can hear Ami's friends yelling for her to reveal herself, and settles herself as best she can. Dry leaves tickle at her bare legs. There's a ladybug crawling up her foot, and it stops cautiously every few steps before it finally settles on her sandal strap. Ami and her friends begin to wander back, tiring of their futile search.
The world owes her nothing.
Because Sakura has saved the world once, bent herself backward when it was needed of her, broken her own bones to heal others. Punched a goddess in the face and laughed. Was the only one to come out of it all alive.
(poor Sakura, always the one who is left behind)
She should be hailed as a hero, her friends at her side, their faces smiling and happy and alive. Should be living in luxury, without a care in the world and no nightmares to plague her every sleeping moment.
She shifts, leaves crunching under her.
The world owes you nothing, Inner says, sneaking her way into the forefront of her mind.
The sooner you realize that, the happier you'll be.