I need to get my shit together.

king & lionheart

If only things had been different.

(for ImmaBe and lala)

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"Someday, we will all be saved."

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She was very young, this Haruno Sakura was. So young and delicate and innocent. Just like her namesake. So much so, in fact, that many of the horrors of the ninja world were unbeknownst to her, despite her upbringing.

Okaasan was tough, hardened from her many years as an ANBU. Since day one, she made sure to push Sakura to her limits, to shape her into an ideal kunoichi—the ideal kunoichi. However, it disappointed her to see that the young girl—the girl she invested so much in, her own daughter—failed to meet her standards time and time again, instead opting to give up and cry. There were many times when Mebuki thought that her daughter just may not have been cut out for shinobi life.

"Go on, Sakura! Hit me, now!"

"I...I can't—!"

"Yes, you can! It is an attitude like that that makes you weak!"

Tousan's eyes were soft and understanding, Sakura remembered. After a rigorous training session with her mother that seemed to prove useless—utterly useless and always disappointing—the pinkette would run into the arms of her father crying. He would stroke her hair, always reminding her that Mebuki had seen many things that made her life difficult, and the things she did were to prepare Sakura for the road ahead. He always reminded her, consoling her at the same time with a kindness her mother would fail to show her.

Being so little, so stubborn, she didn't quite understand the depth of her mother's intentions, and the two grew apart. Even at the tender age of six, Sakura's relationship with her mother began to suffer—just ripping apart at the seams that were just barely there.

One day, however, she was walking home from school after an unusually good day. The boys didn't tease her quite as much, and she was actually allowed to sit next to Sasuke. The pinkette practically skipped home that day.

"Okaasan! Tousan! I'm home—"

A shriek. A body, lying at her feet.

"T-Tousan? Tousan, a-a-are you okay? Tousan? Tousan!"

Small hands fluttered to her father's chest, checking for a heartbeat.

"I have to find Okaasan!"

Small feet pattered through the house, and doors flew open.

Another body.

"Okaasan! P-p-please be okay! OKAASAN!"

Tears collected in her eyes, pouring out onto her cheeks.

There was a sound to her right.

"What? Another one?"

"What happened to my parents?!"

"You—! There weren't supposed to be any witnesses!"

A man closed in on Sakura, kunai glinting in the setting sun. Sakura braced herself, waiting for certain death.

"What are you doing?!"

There is a woman, identified only by her voice, her face being covered by a mask.

"There weren't supposed to be witnesses!"

"The targets—they don't have children!"

"Are you saying—?"

"Knock her out, do something! If we leave soon, no one will know!"

Quick as a hiccup, the man pulled something from the bag resting on his hip, using it to cover Sakura's face. The young girl's eyes fluttered, suddenly feeling as though the world was being muffled by cotton and feeling as though she was almost being suffocated by the same wooly material.

Her dreams were thick and hazy, the faces of her parents blurred. She dreamed of pictures with them scratched out, or erased completely. She dreamed of fire consuming her very being—the red, hot flames burning every inch of her body—and drowning in an ocean. She woke up screaming, screaming for her parents, looking around for them before remembering—

She was alone.

She was all alone.

I'm sorry for the break I've taken, and will probably continue to take. It's almost the end of the year, and school is killing me. Hopefully by spring break I can get back on track.

Also, every fifth chapter will be Sakura oriented, so... yeah.

As always, thank you for reading and reviewing and everything else and thank you to my lovely beta for making this story especially nice for y'all.

Review!