"...There will be a price."
"What price?"
"Nobody knows for sure, since no one ever tried to do this. Well, at least, that I know of. Though one thing for sure, the one who travels would be the one to pay the price."
"Could it be that I'd be dead if I do this?"
"Maybe, maybe not. Though it would kind of defeat the purpose of traveling if the one who travels is dead, don't you think?"
"That's right…"
"So, what will you do now? Will you still proceed as planned?"
Sakura woke up with a start. It was that dream again. The conversation between a man and a woman. She could see a blurry image of a man, but could never see any resemblance of a woman. But the voices though, she was sure one was a woman. She had been having these weird dreams ever since that dreaded day a week and a half ago.
The Hokage came to her room at the hospital along with several shinobi soon after a nurse noticed she was awake. Her Hokage's eyes were full of compassion when he approached her. He talked about how her parents were so courageous to attempt to fight back whoever caused that massacre.
A man with an appearance so similar to Ino spoke next. He asked what she was doing at the eatery, where she was when the massacre happened, and any other little details she might remember from the incident.
She told them all she could remember, from the reason why her parents and she travelled outside Konoha, her little trip to the toilet when the massacre happened, the eerie silence that greeted her when she approached the inside of the restaurant, and all the bloody details of the surroundings that greeted her. She needed to take a break sometimes from all the crying and hiccups that accompanied her story.
The Hokage and the other shinobi listened to her patiently. When she told how things changed for the worst in the mere minutes of her going to the toilet, everyone looked even grimmer. Whoever did this massacre was strong, that was for sure. Several shinobi were present in the eatery, some were not of Konoha, and they, too, were dead.
The Ino look-alike gave her a sad smile and stood up from her hospital bed. The Hokage told her he'd visit her again and started to walk out of her room when she suddenly stopped them with her words.
"Wa-wait, Hokage-sama! I just remember something! But I don't know whether it's that important or not."
The Hokage turned around, "Every detail you know of the incident is important Sakura. What is it that you remember?"
"I ran into someone on the way to the toilet. But I don't know who he was and why he was there. But he looked kind of weird."
The Hokage and the other shinobi exchanged a look and walked closer to Sakura.
"Tell me more about this someone."
Sakura scrunched up her nose trying to remember the weird person she ran into.
"That person seemed to have a figure of a man. Though I don't know for sure because he was wearing a weird mask and black robe. His hair was covered by the robe too."
"Weird mask? Can you tell me more about this mask?"
"Hm… it looked like a shell. There was also a hole on the right side of the mask, but I couldn't see what was inside that."
The Hokage nodded slowly, "A shell mask… Did he do anything to you?"
"No. After I ran into him, he just stood there and looked at me silently then went away."
"Alright. We'll look out for this shell-masked man. Anything else, Sakura?"
She hesitated for a moment, then proceeded to ask the questions she'd been having on her head.
"My parents…"
The Hokage smiled sadly, "We held their funerals alongside other Konoha shinobi who were dead in the eatery while you were still unconscious."
Sakura looked down on her hands. Her mouth started to quiver and tears formed in her eyes. The shinobi in the room looked at her sadly and the Hokage patted her head.
"Get well soon, Sakura. I'm sure your friends want to see you soon at the academy."
Sakura looked up on him, "I can still attend the academy, Hokage-sama?"
"Of course. Your parents already enrolled you anyway."
She nodded her head weakly, and the Hokage, along with other shinobi walked out of her hospital room. She just stayed there staring at nothing. Her heart felt empty and her eyes felt burning from all the crying she did.
A few days after that little interrogation session, the Hokage came again to her hospital room. He said that he'd personally show her the new 'home' for her. New home - a fancy way of saying she'd be put into an orphanage's care.
She still had her parents' house, but her young age made the village elders think she'd be better off surrounded by people in the orphanage. How wrong that was. The bullies in the orphanage were more vicious than the bullies she ever met before.
Everyone was saying how she was a cursed child because she was the only one who survived the massacre. That, along with her unique hair colour and her generous-sized forehead, made her the perfect prey for bullies. It was only a few days in the orphanage and she already longed for the day she finally graduated from the academy, so she could go back to her parents' house and live by herself.
Ah, how far that dream seemed to be. She still hadn't gone to the academy yet. She was still in the process of adapting to the orphanage system, and a psychiatrist came and went to meet her - making sure she'd be mentally good enough to start the academy life.
She wanted to say going to the academy and being away from her bullies in the orphanage would make her feel better, but decided against saying that for fear of getting even more bullied if any of them mean people caught wind of it.
So she waited patiently until her psychiatrist deemed her fit for academy life and silently suffered the bullying that came her way.
It was time. Finally she would go to the academy, three weeks after the academy had started. She was nervous, that much she knew. She didn't know what the class would be like and she dearly hoped none of her classmates would be as mean as the bullies in her orphanage.
At least I have Ino here. Wait, Ino is in the same class as me, right?
She started to chew on her lips, feeling even more nervous at the mere thought of not being in the same class as Ino.
"Don't be nervous, Sakura. All of your classmates are looking forward to meet you."
Little Sakura looked at her sensei. Iruka - that was his name when he introduced himself to her earlier. He seemed to be a kind teacher, something that brought a little reassurance to her. She gave him a small smile and they continued on walking to her classroom.
They could hear a loud chattering from the inside of the classroom. Nobody seemed to quiet down when Iruka sensei got inside until Sakura finally braved herself and walked inside as well. Every pair of eyes inside the classroom was focused on her being. Some looked at her with pity, some others looked with curiosity, only one person looked at her with understanding in his eyes - the boy with orange clothing and blond hair.
What a matching outfit for his hair.
She searched Ino with her eyes and found her looking at Sakura with a sad expression. Sakura only responded with her own sad little smile.
"Alright, class, our friend here is going to start the academy with us. I hope all of you can welcome her well. Remember that a shinobi is always respectful towards their peers and allies."
Iruka sensei turned his head to Sakura, "You can introduce yourself now, Sakura."
Little Sakura took a deep breath and while looking at nobody in particular introduced herself.
"My name is Haruno Sakura. I… um… I… It's nice to meet all of you." She bowed her head.
Silence greeted her.
"Ehm… alright. If that's all, you can take a seat… there." Iruka sensei pointed at the table in which that blond boy was seated together with a dark-haired boy.
She walked to the table and the blond boy stood up, making way for her to sit in the middle of the table between him and the dark-haired boy. She sat there and stared at their sensei who started the class, talking about the history of Konoha.
"Pssstttt…"
Sakura looked to her right. That orange blond boy was the one making the sound.
"I'm Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto! Nice to meet you, Sakura-chan!" He whispered.
"Oh… Hi, Naruto."
"You have very pretty hair by the way. Unique colour and all."
Her eyebrows quirked disbelievingly, "Do you mean it?"
"Of course! Why would I lie for something like that?"
"Well… I'm not sure. Most people joke about it…"
Naruto scrunched up his nose, "I don't see anything funny about your hair though."
Little Sakura smiled, feeling happy for the first time in the past three weeks. She finally attended the academy, and just after the class started she already made a new friend.
Just wait, mommy… dad… I'll be a strong shinobi to protect my precious people and make you both proud.