1.

The stars align in the sky, and for a second, she swears she can see a glimmer of hope if she squints just at the right angle. But as quickly as she felt the beam of light rise in her chest, it flashed away before her, and all she was left with were her troubles. Her feet begrudgingly took her home, each step closer towards the apartment felt as heavy as lead until she was emotionally exhausted beyond her years.

As soon as she got inside, she closed her eyes in order to not face the reality of the existence of that room, as she blindly followed the path of the hallway until she could feel the metal handle of her bedroom door. Sakura stepped inside and threw herself on the bed, her limbs outstretched so she resembled a star she had spied only a few minutes prior. The defensive manner had become a habit of sorts, worked its way into her routine when she came home - she refused to allow herself to face the empty room where once a soul resided, for she could not face the ebbing numbness that came with the memories that room bestowed upon her.

As she lay on her bed, looking up at the ceiling, Sakura lost herself in the memory of him; the summer green days which had been so full of life and laughter...

Seven.

They were seven, she remembers it clearly, when the boy with the raven hair and bottomless onyx eyes with a smile as bright as the sun took her hand and led her towards their secret space. Their sacred space.

He was so kind. So innocent. When he had found her crying after being teased by the neighbouring girls, he had taken her to a promised land full of hope. She still remembers his words, even now, eleven years later:

"If you come here, your sadness would fade away!"

When she only looked at him with swollen red eyes that slightly widened, he defended himself. "It's true! Me and big brother come here sometimes! But I'm big enough to come by myself now, I'm seven! If you want, I could come here and be with you if you feel the sadness start to come back again."

Always so considerate.

Sakura sat up on the bed and looked at the picture held together by its frame that was settled on her windowsill. It was a picture of herself with her two childhood best friends who then eventually became her roommates due to circumstances changing. None of them had it easy, and it had only worsened now.

He was gone.

All three of them knew the day would come. Why wouldn't he go?

Although they had been inseparable since she came back to Konoha with her parents when she was twelve, he had to leave their trio.

To embark on his journey to find his estranged brother, seek out his answers.

She only knew of fragments of Sasuke's past, how he had become an orphan when he was only eight - after she had been forced to leave - but his tragedy wasn't her story to tell.

The departure of one her male best friends' was still raw and cut deep although it had been months since he had set out, almost a year ago. There were so many things that she wished she could tell him, like how, like himself, she was one of the few that had not made it into Konoha University. It was not that she was waiting for his return to continue the steady stream that is life, no. It was more like, she had hit a dam, and the walls would not allow her to pass no matter how strong her current was. She did not come from an elite family, she did not have a rich lineage behind her with history embedded into the soils and roots of her village, and so she was not of the high class and did not deserve a seat at the university.

Social standards were high and what was meritocracy when there was no space for hard work and perseverance?

What was the value of her exam grades if they could not take her to reach heights that were unimaginable?

In this corrupt world, Sakura only had herself, and was left to her own vices to defend for herself.

If the world wanted sweet smiles and cheery laughter, she would give them that - as long as she could take what she wanted. It was during the day that she had been venturing out of the village, handing out her self-made medicine, assisting those in need... or so they believed. In turn, they had given her rich coats, perfumes, and bags - all that she had sold in the next town.

It if was money she needed to get to high places, then it was money she would get.

If it was money she needed to see if he is fairing well, then so be it.

It was during her travels that she would also try to get as much information about him as she could - although the task was akin to bleeding water out of stone.

'Where are you, Sasuke?' she found herself thinking.

What would he think of her now if he knew what she was up to: faking a mask for the world, playing the games of the corrupt, just in order to live her dream as a doctor one day and liberate the world from its misfeasance?

Would he still make a swing using tyres and ropes and help her swing up seven feet into the sky until she was giddy with laughter. Brush the hair from her face when she tripped and help her up when she was seven, thirteen, sixteen.

Build up her confidence and let her know that their friendship was as still as strong as it had been when they were seven - even though she had been absent during the darkest years of his life.

Smack Naruto for her when he would say something playfully suggestive about the way she was dressed.

Would he still accept her as a friend knowing what and who she is now?

In just ten months everything had changed, and he wasn't here to see it. And she wasn't there when he needed her. Again.

Sakura was about to pick herself up and get dressed for bed when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in!" she welcomed.

The latch turned and the door opened and in came the only roommate she had left, the blonde with blue eyes that shone in delight, mimicking the stars. He brought a tray full of two bowls of ramen and some juice.

"I figured you hadn't eaten again, so I got you dinner," Naruto explained as he shone his contagious grin at her.

She smiled back and said, "Thank you, Naruto. But you really don't have to. I can look after myself-"

"Oi oi, don't talk yourself out of this one!" he chided her as he sat upon her bed and handed a bowl over to her. "Don't forget, I was in your position once too! I was the orphan everyone hated and no one wanted to adopt because I was the newborn babe that was found at the sight of the death of the previous Hokage-President or whatever. As if I was the culprit! It's only on my seventeenth birthday that it was revealed that I'm the son of Mr Namikaze and his secret wife, and that's why I was able to get into Law at Konoha-"

"Yes, Naruto," Sakura interrupted, albeit slightly irritated having heard this story a thousand times. "Everyone knows now. And everyone's all deeply sorry for how they treated you, and you've got a ton of friends now."

"Ah, yeah, sure. But still, you and Sasuke are my first real friends, and nothing will ever change that! Me and him were like brothers in the orphanage, you know? Even if that fucking bastard refuses to come home still. You know, I think he blocked my number! I bet he still texts you doesn't he, that irritating little-"

"He doesn't."

Naruto blinked profusely in shock and choked on the mouthful of noodles in his mouth. Sakura rolled her eyes at her doofus of a friend and elaborated. "He did say he didn't want any distractions. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't have a phone at all now," she mused more to herself than to Naruto.

Naruto sat there cross-legged, bowl in hand and a stray of noodle sticking out of his mouth as he contemplated her words, his face crumpled up as he did so.

"Hmmm... Well, if you find any leads on him, you know I'll always be here to support whatever decision you make! Talking about support, you should really take my funds to support yourself," Naruto offered.

"Naruto, you already do too much for me already by just letting me stay here rent free. I can't do that to you. You've had a rough start to life, so enjoy it now! Don't you worry about me!" Sakura smiled up at him as she tried to reassure her concerned friend.

Naruto brought one hand to her shoulder and squeezed. "I swear, when I become Hokage, I'll change the laws of this land! You have my word, Sakura! It's unfair that you can't further your education and achieve your dreams just because you weren't born from a prestigious family, or that you can't get a decent paying job either because of that stupid rule!"

"Prestigious?" Sakura mimicked. "You really are learning new words since enrolling into uni, huh?" Sakura teased, a faint smirk etching onto her features. Around Naruto, she could always seem to feel at ease, even if just for a little. There was something about him that made her feel as if her burdens were lighter. She knew that Sasuke had sensed it too, which was why he had stuck along for as long as he did, she thought.

Naruto blew a raspberry at her comment, causing bits of ramen to spray out of his mouth and fall on her bed. He managed to duck before she could discipline him with her strong fists.

"Enough about me. What did you get up to today? Whose life did you wreck?" Naruto asked, keeping judgement at bay as he understood her situation all too well.

Sakura fixed her empty bowl of ramen on the nightstand before she stretched her arms up high, all in preparation to relay her endeavours to one of her best friends. "There was this couple I came across about 15 miles away from the village. They seemed well-off enough. It looked like they were building a crib for their new member of the family, so naturally I offered to help. I gave the wife a couple of tips for her pregnancy, and she seemed to love to have a female companion to talk to-"

"Sakura-"

"What?" Sakura asked, slightly annoyed she was interrupted in the middle of her story.

"You didn't harm the unborn baby did you?" Naruto's gaze was intense as he stared at her, willing her to tell him the truth, confess to her crimes.

"No! Of course not!" she replied, abashed that he would think so low of her. "Would you let me finish?" She huffed. "Whilst I was with them, I 'accidentally' dropped a tool on the husband's arm, as you do, and then I offered to help him.

"I put his arm in a cast and I gave him some of my self-made elixir which I told him would quicken the healing process, but really it would leave him paralysed up the forearm for a week," she concluded feeling satisfied with herself.

Naruto took a big gulp of his orange juice before saying, "Your revenge at the world is truly frightening, Sakura-chan. So this elixir... So... basically it's like you're fucking people and leaving them with a taste of you?"

Sakura frowned at his choice of words, visibly irritated that he would use such an analogy to describe her exploits. "In a sense," she quipped back, her tone sharp and cold.

A slight pause. Tension hung in the air before, "That's really fucked up, Sakura. You know you could ask your paren-"

"You KNOW that's out of the question," she spat back, refusing to even acknowledge the idea of asking her parents for financial security.

"They're still your parents," Naruto tried again.

"For YEARS they lied to me insisting the 'pretty little boy' I said I used to play with when I was seven was a figment of my imagination! They tried to convince me Sasuke didn't exist! HE NEEDED ME! AND THEY TOOK ME FROM HIM! HIS FAMILY BURNED TO THE GROUND AND MY PARENTS CUT ME OFF FROM HIM!" she seethed. "So give me one goddamn reason I should even look their way!"

She glared at Naruto, challenging him to argue with her, disagree with her. He had opened up a faucet of emotions - rage, anger - and she needed to let it out. She wanted him to tell her she was wrong so she could lose herself in the volcano that was boiling in her gut, ready to erupt.

But all he said was,

"I'm sorry, Sakura. It's just that, well, you know how it is for me. I've never had the privilege to spend time with my parents, so I wouldn't know how you feel. I was out of line."

Sakura sighed and placed a palm on his knee. "No, I'm sorry, Naruto. I shouldn't have taken it out on you. You're only trying to help..."

They sat in silence for a while, both contemplating each other's situations and how life had been unfair to both but in different ways. In some sense, they could almost be polar opposites.

The silence was broken by the blonde as time ticked by, and the night growing older, crawling towards the time for when he would have to take his leave and return to his own room.

"Sakura," he said in order to garner her attention. "There's another reason I came here. I just wanted you to have enough energy for when you saw it, which is why I brought you the food and, I wanted to know your mental state of mind. But I guess I can't keep it from you forever-"

"Naruto. Slow down. You're not making any sense."

Naruto chuckled nervously and sheepishly smiled as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I guess it would make more sense if I just gave it to you."

Naruto lifted himself up slightly and reached for his back pocket. He handed the contents of his hand to Sakura, and in her hand was a sealed envelope. As she turned the envelope over, something caught her eye which elicited a gasp from her:

In the corner of the unopened envelope, sat a drawing of a white and red uchiwa fan; one that was known to belong to one of the oldest families of Konoha:

The Uchiha crest.

A/N: I have so many ideas for this fanfic and I've emailed myself dialogue and some pieces I've already written for later parts of the story and I'm so excited for you guys to read it... once I write my ideas into full-length chapters that is!

For about a month or maybe less I've been so excited about this fanfic as ideas kept flooding through me, that at one point I was actually going to abandon 'Daylight' at its later stages and just start this off... But obviously I managed to stop myself from doing that...

Let me know your thoughts and any predictions you may have about where the story will be heading!