After returning from work that night to her apartment Sakura felt exhausted, physically and emotionally. With work already being as busy and stressful as it was she over worked her mind with the thoughts of friends and Sasuke that her head was pounding. Practically dragging herself to her bathroom she quickly opened the white medicine cabinet and took out the bottle of aspirin and shoved two capsules down her throat and flushed it down the bitter taste with a glass of water left by her sink. Looking up into the mirror Sakura could barely recognize herself anymore. Was this really what she looked like?

"Oh Sakura look at you, what have you done to yourself?" she whispered to herself. Her eyes didn't even look emerald green anymore but more of a dull sea foam green worn and flat, her hair had grown out past her shoulder but looked dry and brittle full of split ends, skin lost its shine, and lips looked chapped and pale.`

"When did I gained these crow feet? Not to mention these dark circles under my eyes, I'm surprised no one has asked me if I have been punched in the face and gave me two black eyes for goodness sakes! ". Quickly she splashed cold water on her face but it seemed her face still looked the same, making her eyes sting at the rims with tears demanding to fall. With a sigh she turned on the bath tub faucet to take a warm bath to hopefully to relax herself putting her hind at ease. Filling it was musk swelling bumbles sakura slid in washing her skin raw trying to bring that shine back with every soap she could find. As Sakura dropped the wash cloth in to the tub, with the word "damn" under her breath, she bent her face down to see where it landed among the bubbles, that's when she got another glimpse of her face in the waters reflection as the bubbles seemed to move away from each other. This time Sakura couldn't help the tears from falling as they seemed to spill out automatically without consent, she couldn't always be strong after all. She looked awful, ugly in fact. No one wonder no man ever asks her out on dates, no wonder she was all alone unlike her friends! She sobbed and sobbed into her hands, she was so exposed she couldn't hide it. It wasn't just her face, look at her body flat in the front and a matching flatness in the back. Why couldn't she have those luscious curves like Hinata with her double D chest and nice rounded rump? And her hair! Who has pink hair? It was all her parents fault why with her fathers burgundy hair mixed with her mother's light blonde it was a combination of disaster. Why oh why couldn't she have nice hair like Ino? Yes Ino with her beautiful natural bleach blonde hair that so many women ruined their hair to obtain, and how it grew so fast and looked as if she never had a splint end in her life. Speaking of Ino, why couldn't she have Ino's eyes as well? A soft baby blue that looked so innocent as well as full of confidence? Her eyes were boring and shown no twinkle. What about Tenten? Her skin was beautifully marked with a slight tan that looked smooth while Sakura's was pale, why if a man saw her naked he would probably go blind with how white her skin was!

Sakura just couldn't take this sinking feeling any longer and splashed her hands in the water where her face reflected and jumped out of the tub quicker than a cheetah running for his prey. She ran into her room and jumped on the bed covering her body under silk blanket and sobbed into the pillow.

"Why ? Why?! Why am I so ugly? Why am I so weak? Naruto and Hinata's wedding is approaching and ill have no date, no one to dance with while everyone else with be slow dancing with the love of their lives! Ill be sitting alone looking pitiful as ever." she screamed into her pillow until exhausted took over he body as the last of her salty tears dried on her face.

that night Sakura dreamed of Sasuke, as she seemed to often, she dreamed how he held her and whispered sweet words into her ear about how beautiful he thought she was in his deep masculine voice. His hand rubbing her right breast in circles making her feel sexy and not insecure, wanted in other words. His warm breath on her ear sent hot feelings down her legs and his soft lips grazed her neck with tiny nips from his pearly whites. His other hand laid on her lower back by her tail bone making goose bumps shoot up her spine and the hair on the back of her neck stand up straight as an arrow, it was almost like a tickle feeling. The smell of him so close was indulging, a white musk smells mixed with a deep forest smell like pine caused her to tremble. He pulled back his face for a minute and his dark black eyes showed lust for her, a wanting she'd only seen in men's eyes in romantic movies. His snow white canine tooth biting his lip and his grasped became slightly more possessive. But...as she saw her reflection of herself in his eyes it wasn't her, or at least not quite her. If was a version of herself that had long hair that looked smooth with shine, her forehead was small, her eyes were a beautiful green that the grass would turn when spring would arrive, and her skin looked healthy with a slight glow complimentary of a day out in the sun. No this was not the real her, only the beautiful version of her that she was not. That's when Sasuke vanished in her dream as her real self appeared with her "Billboard brow" in all. All alone now with no one in sight, Sakura sank to knees and began to cry once more.

Sakura then awoke from the noise of her alarm, ah yes it was only a dream. Sakura felt weak from a night of restless sleep, her joints cracked with every stretch but no less she needed to get up the hospital was waiting. Remembering her night was not something she was proud of, she really let her self get worked up, who cares if she's single forever and dies a virgin? Who cares if she lives alone hell it would be easier and cleaner, so what if she never married and had children of her own? Psssh it'll save them from obtaining any of her features, it...it

"Ugh who am I fooling!? Sakura yelled to no one particular.

That's when Sakura saw her reflection in the bathroom mirror once again. At first her eyes fell again in saddness looking away. But then deep in the pit of her stomach determination came out and a smile appeared on her lips. Opening the medicine cabinet Sakura reached for the pair of hair clipping scissor and without a second thought chopped all of those nasty dead ends of and some more until her hair was once again its normal below the chin length, and then slightly turned the scissor into an angle to give herself sideways bangs towards the left of her forehead. Sakura moved her head back and fourth feeling her softness of her ends hit her cheeks and stuck a simple red head band in. Surprising what a little cut can do, her hair now held more of a bounce to it and even had slight volume on the new breathing ends so they didn't look flat against her face. Then sakura reached for her make up bag that had not been touched in several months, really only opened on special occasions. She took her mascara and lightly brushed her eyelashes with a thin layer. Next she took her lip gloss, not to really add color, but just to bring a nice shine to them. Becoming excited and more confident Sakura ran to her closet.

"Lets see, I need to wear something different, something that will help me stand out." She began rummaging threw her closet but was not finding anything worth taking a second glance at, actually when was the last time she went shopping ? She settles for a a red dress that was too short so she put on her training gray shorts, and placed a simple thick black belt around her waste to make whatever curves were hiding somewhat show. Satisfied with her outfit grabbed a pair of gray shoes with a little heel and strapped them on. (***Outfit from Naruto the last movie) Brushing her teeth, and putting a floral lotion on her legs and arms yes Sakura was ready to take on the day. Grabbing a red apple out of her fridge Sakura practically skipped out the door.

Down the streets of Konoha she went with several goals on her mind. One being that she needed to find a date to Naruto and Hinata's wedding, second she must go shopping, three she would call of he friends and force them to spend a little time with her, thr- "Woof I am so sor-" Sakura paused, coming around the corner she bumped into something hard and tall, realizing quickly it was a man she looked up ready to excuse herself when she saw that it was no other than Sasuke Uchiha himself.

"Oh Sasuke! I am so sorry I was not paying attention!" Sakura insisted looking everywhere but at him, face flushed with pink shades of bumble-gum.

"hmph, clearly." Sasuke replied after giving her a good "look up and down" and then an annoyed looked, arms crossing over his pecks.

Surprised by his remark, and slightly embarrassed, Sakura mutter another low "Sorry" and stepped passed him continuing her way to work with Sasuke watching her until she disappeared around the next block. "So much to a good start of the day, already it's not even 630am and Sasuke is annoyed with you not to mention this is the first time in months you've made any sort of contact with him, ugh." Sakura thought to herself.