As always,

"before" is before the academy

"after" is after the chunin exams

"then" is during the fourth war

and "now" is the current time

Have fun reading, babes! Happy New Years!

Also, if you're having a hard time picturing Sakura's staff look at my new picture for this story. I changed the vision of her staff, which will now have 6 points instead of its original 8 (just imagine a long crystal handle). The total size of the staff is Sakura's fully grown height (5'4") with the snowflake taking up 1.5 feet- diameter wise.

Now:

She took her seat beside Ino, the blonde girl already on a tangent about how cute the younger Uchiha heir was, how perfect and amazing he was. Unanswered questions swirled around in the brain underneath the pink cloud. What had changed? What was so drastically different this time around?

A black cat curled between her neatly tucked legs under her wooden desk. "Cosmos-chan!" Ino chided lightly. She turned to face her friend receiving the cat's affection, "Sakura-chan! I didn't know you could bring your pet to class. What if sensei sees?"

"It's fine, Yamanaka-san," came the blithe tone of one curly-haired Uchiha. "I've been told that it's a ninkin by her mother." He shot a cheery smile at the shorter of the duo which left a small smile on her lips. Ino already tsk'ed at his assumed favoritism. Why was Sakura always so popular?

A squeal was heard from across the room and the pink and blonde duo turned towards the direction of the noise. Sakura's eyes began to water when she saw them. Black and gold bickering like old men. Onyx and blue glaring with hidden mirth behind their anger.

Her boys were alive. And their ghosts were friendly towards each other. It was different.

Blissfully different.

Then:

"Naruto, Sasuke, stay behind me!" Her order was clear as day. She commanded her staff to grow from the small pendant that usually hung from her neck. "Release and show your true form!"

"Sakura-Chan! They're too strong for you! I can't protect you in this state! Teme, can't protect you in his state! Fall back!" The blonde meant no harm, she knew this, yet she still bit back her response and clenched her teeth.

"This is my turn to protect you guys. Just relax. I can handle this." The rosette let out a battle cry and burst forward calling out, "flight!" She took to the air and left her teammates behind as they had before... No, this is different. This time, they'll watch her back.

Now:

Sakura's head whirled through memories and forgotten truths in class when her (previously dead) Shisui-sensei asked the class to split up into his assigned trios. Emerald eyes lost their glazed-over appearance when she heard her name being called. She blinked back into attention when their sensei called out the rest of her group members, "Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru... You will be assigned 'What the will of fire means to you.' I need your answers on a poster with all three of your paragraphs -minimum 5 sentences- together with a picture that best represents Konoha."

Sounds easy enough, the brown Haruno simply mused. But with dead people alive, and a cat tucked into her legs, and her hair suddenly flopping in front of her face, she needed answers to everything. Starting with why her hair was less of a cloud and more of a mess of curls.

At least she had one sensible person in her assigned group.

Before:

Chakra wasn't a thing that came naturally to young Sakura. Her pool before the academy was larger than other civilian students' at the time, but it was still small all the while. Sakura hummed as she flipped through her pages of a more advanced textbook, compared to the ones parents usually bought their own children. Did parents buy their children textbooks or story books? It didn't matter either way to the young rosette. She would devour any book her parents gave her.

"Sakura-chan," her mother began the 'talk' they always shared when her father was out at work, "No one can know what goes on in that head of yours, okay?" The older blonde woman brushed some baby hairs out of her daughter's face, "Where I come from, what I taught you that they don't teach in the academy... No one can know about it, alright?"

Sakura put down her thick book and nodded solemnly, no one can know about her magic. Not after what Kirigakure had done to her brother. Not after they tried to kill her mother. Not after they killed her mother's first husband. Not ever or, at least, not until Sakura can fully protect herself. Mebuki was a Tsukino by heart, blood, and the magic that lay dormant in her veins.

"Do you want to know a secret my baa-sama taught me, Sakura-chan?" Her usually tense expression lifted into a slightly silly one, filled with mirth from when she remembered her childhood.

Sakura nodded quickly, always loving the small hints of where her magic came from. "Is it a secret from The Village Hidden in the Tidepools?" she asked excitedly. Oh, how Sakura loved these stories. 'The History of Magic' the young rosette called it.

Mebuki nodded her head with just as much excitement. Moments where she spoke and remembered her past were her favorite things to share with her daughter. She let the magic flow from her fingertips and let her magic swirl around her daughter's hair, tickling her and forming it into stiff mountain-like peaks. "There were stories of sea faes who wielded magic and controlled the seas and its small islands with spells and tricks," she began.

After:

Sakura picked up small bits and pieces of shattered glass vases that her mother once owned. It had been five days after the invasion, three days since she had last seen anyone from her team, and four years since she'd last seen her mother- even in dreams. She was past all of the grievings over her mother abandoning her and her father, but the breaking of little trinkets that her mother had once brought back from her travels brought back unjust pain.

She had no right to feel pain over such small things when the village had lost so damn much. The Hokage was dead, the village was a wreck, and here she was, crying over another small vase. She was so pathetic.

Not even her father was like this... wherever he was.

Now:

The bell rang out for lunchtime and Ino dragged Sakura towards a tree that looked so damn familiar- she just couldn't place where it belonged in her past. "You're so lucky Sakura-chan!" Ino began ranting as she settled down into the grass, just an apple in hand.

Another diet, Sakura assumed. "What makes me so lucky, Ino-chan?"

"You have a ninkin!" She threw her hands up into the air to make it seem like the big deal she thought it was. "You've got everything a girl could ever want," Ino paused to take a bite of her apple. "You're a princess, got a big brother, and sensei already likes you best, too!"

Sakura winced at her best friend's loud voice. "I can't help it Ino..." she prayed her apologetic tone hid the fact that she had absolutely no idea what the Yamanaka was talking about. Princess? Big Brother? What the hell was going on in this world?

The blonde huffed and blew her bangs out of her face. "I'm just glad you're not wearing that stupid mask anymore. It hid all your prettiness," Ino munched on her apple some more. "Huh, why didn't you wear it today?" Ino searched all over her friend's body trying to find where she hid that darn thing. The Sakura she knew never left the house without that hideous thing on. Something about her nose being sensitive. "Are you finally going to stop dressing like your big bro completely?"

It's been a hell of a long time! I'm glad to be revisiting this story, as I'm trying my hardest to keep up with all of my updates, I'm having a hard time going back to some of my older stories because of the pure quality of crap I wrote. Please stay with me during my frustrations, I hope that I can bring life back to this story once again!