A/N: This chapter is both the prologue and the epilogue of this story, a sort of preamble to give you a taste of what's to come. This is also because my fic begins and ends the same way; the story that follows this prologue/epilogue will illustrate all that happened up to this point. How Sakura became hokage, why she decided to time travel, how she and Kakashi got closer (trust me, they don't get along at all in the beginning), etc. I find that there are so many time travel fics that talk about what happened after the main character goes back to the past, but to my knowledge there are none that focus on the story that comes before… and isn't that just as interesting? By going back, Sakura will be erasing herself from history in a way, so I wanted to explore what kind of horror it would take to make her reach this decision. Spoiler: it has to do with Kakashi.

Anyway, enjoy!

Prologue

"Could you repeat that?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was a man who had seen many things in his life. This, though, was a little too much.

"I am a time traveler," the young woman in front of him said. He had not misheard. He stared at her, feeling at a complete loss. "Ah…" he replied intelligently. "What, may I ask, was your name again?"

The woman raised her head, poison green eyes boring into his. She bowed lightly. "Haruno Sakura, rokudaime of wartime Konoha. You will be dead by then though… It's a pleasure."

Right.

"Well, Haruno-san… I don't know what to say. Your claims seem a little…" She didn't even look like a ninja – pink-haired and short, fragile-looking… "…a little unexpected," he finished delicately. Clinically insane came to mind as an alternative. The possibility that this woman may be speaking the truth didn't even cross his mind.

"I know I wouldn't believe me either, were I in your shoes," the woman said, her posture no less confident than before. "But trust me, hokage-sama, my words are no lie – and I can prove it. In my time, I was born the same year as Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. They should have been born by now. You can ask me any number of questions about them or what happens to them in the future. Or the village. For example, I can tell you that your student Tsunade became hokage… after your other student Orochimaru tried to destroy Konoha and you died in the attempt. You see, he used a jutsu known as the edo tensei–"

"Halt!" Hiruzen cried, anxious about the ANBU overhearing their conversation. He did not want knowledge of the edo tensei getting out. What a horrifying tale this woman had recited! "What you're saying…" He took a deep drag of his pipe. "This is insane, Haruno-san. I can hardly… my student would never do that!"

"Oh, he would," the woman countered. "When I was twelve, in fact. It happened during the chunin exams of that summer, which were being hosted in Konoha. He had previously killed the kazekage and used his face and name to manipulate sand into an alliance with a village of his own creation. Have you heard of Otogakure yet?"

He had. Whispers… but… could there truly be some truth to what this woman was saying? One way or another, there was no way he could allow her to leave this room, with all the knowledge she possessed. He needed to think. In the meantime–

"Guards." One word and a look was enough for the ANBU. His protection detail leapt down and made short work of the pink haired woman.

"Hokage-sama?" asked the captain. Hiruzen was glad he'd kept this one in the village today. "Hound," he said. "I want her confined and drugged. Please hail Inoichi here. I must discuss the situation with him."

Hatake Kakashi – also known as hound – bowed curtly and snaked his arm around the unconscious woman, clearly intending to sunshin away when –

The woman sidestepped his reaching arm, her eyes flying open as though she'd just closed them due to a state of deep thought, rather than S-rank genjutsu combined with the hit to a pressure point. Hound clearly tensed, no doubt preparing to kill her if necessary. The woman stared at Kakashi with wide eyes, as though something momentous had just transpired. This was the first time her poker face had crumbled.

"K-Kakashi... it's really you."

She knew his code name? How? Kakashi was clad in his ANBU gear, which included a mask and wig...

"Do you know this woman?" Hiruzen demanded, turning to his agent.

Kakashi angled his face to examine the woman more closely, and, though his expression wasn't visible through the mask, Hiruzen could tell that the man's brain must be working over time, for he stared at her for a long moment.

"No," his agent said at last. "I've... I've never seen her before."

The woman had held his gaze for as long as he'd observed her, and her chest was heaving now, ever so slightly, as though she were having some kind of emotional moment and was trying to do her damnest not to let it show. If she really was a time-traveler, as she claimed, then Kakashi must have obviously been someone of importance to her.

She breathed in deeply through her nose, apparently trying to collect herself. "Kakashi," she said strongly. "I promise you, this time it'll be different. I... I've come back. It won't happen like it did."

"Miss, please stop harassing my agent," Hiruzen cut in.

Turning, the woman leveled him with a glare so sharp it could cut through diamonds. "Of course,hokage-sama."

A/N: Perhaps I will eventually write a second work that explores what happens between Past!Kakashi and Future!Sakura after the epilogue… I have a concrete idea planned for a fic that would take place after she time travels, but that'd be a sort of epilogue story, if this one is well-received.