Disclaimer: Me? Own Naruto? I think you got the wrong person.
WARNING: NO ORDER!
There is no set order to these. Just random things that you may need or want to know, so she could be 10 in one then 3 in the next. Please read 'Following The Blind' too or some of these will not make sense.
The first thing Sakura remembered was a voice. It was a beautiful voice, soft sweet and just pleasant to the ears. It sang to her, she could never remember the words but she would never forget the voice.
Then the voice had stopped singing, was now talking, she didn't understand what the voice was saying but she wished it would start singing again. Then silence. The voice screamed. It was unnatural, a voice so beautiful shouldn't make such a horrible noise. She wanted it to stop, she didn't like it.
The voice stopped screaming.
She heard a man's voice, cold, bitter, and even though she tried so much to understand the womans voice and couldn't, she understood his.
"I wasn't told about a baby. Should I kill it?" She remembered the sick laughter and the words. "Nah, got no time. Got to pick up my payment."
And then there was silence.
Sakura never heard that voice again, not the bitter one or the beautiful one.
Sakura remembered being frightened, so scared that she cried. She remembered wanting, no needing to be safe. That was when she heard another voice, a boy's deep voice. "Your safe with me." And for the first time in Sakura's life, she saw something, someone. A dark haired, dark eyed, pale skinned boy, he was looking at her in a way that said she didn't need to worry, he was there. She stopped crying. This boy would protect her.
Even so small Sakura knew she was different, for one she was smart, really smart, she could understand most things happening around her. She understood when her mother died, she understood her father. His words. He always told her about her mother, Shinami. He talked about her all the time, some times he laughed about her, most times he cried. She understood it all and she was only a baby. Unable to walk, unable to talk, and, according to the medic-nin's, unable to see.
But that was untrue, Sakura saw. She saw the medic-nin this morning telling her father about this, and she even saw that later tonight, after he would put her to sleep, he would cry again. It was true that she couldn't see what was happening now, as the medic laced his chakra into her eyes, but it didn't mean that she couldn't see.
As she grew she kept all this to herself, she kept the fact that she could, in fact see, to herself. She found that she could change things. She could make things happen that she didn't originally see, change the future. She saw another woman once, with her father. A new mother, and two other children, sisters, siblings. Often she would change things to help her father, she'd hide things that would make him cry or let him find things that made him smile. Sakura liked to see his smile.
Her gift was a strange one, one day, that is how long into the future she saw. At any waking moment she could see what would happen up until this time tomorrow. At nights, however, was a different story. At night, when she could not control what she saw, she could see years into the future. And it was also at night, she saw him.
Sakura saw the boy. Every night she would meet him at a strange clearing with a basket. They would sit and eat or they would talk or train. She found herself looking forward to the nights. She could sleep and meet up with the boy again. Sasuke. That was his name.
For the longest time that she could remember, from that faithful night, she could see his face. He was beautiful. Dark spiky hair, hypnotizing red eyes. Sakura loved seeing him every night, for night was the only time she could see him. He was a man of few words and fewer facial expressions, but when he spoke, he spoke through his eyes, they grew warm and the harsh edges of his face softened. Already, she was starting to love him.
Sakura remembered Neji. The first time they met they were very young. Neji had been just born hours earlier and Sakura remembered his little baby face. He had a lot of hair than too. She remembered his first smile, it was to her, they were laid next to each other in a crib. Sakura was a few months old and had reached for him.
Neji grew up loving Sakura, Sakura often spent time with her uncle, Hizashi. Even though her father loved her so much, often when he looked at her all he saw was her mother. Some times it was too much. Neji was the only one her age to ever like her in the family, she saw everyone elses glares, but Neji would always smile, now and in the future, at her. Neji was like her brother.
"Kura. Would you like to play tag?" Sakura heard Neji say.
They would play, she would be losing, Neji would slow down, purposely, she would hit him and run the other way. She'd trip and fall, skin her knee. she would go home and Neji would spend the rest of the day angry at himself for his stupid idea.
She'd say no. Neji would be sad, he'll sit and mope for an hour, trying to think of a game they could play, he'd suggest hide and seek. The game ended with her being unable to find Neji. She'd say no to that game, another hour of moping, Cat and mouse. Ends the same way as tag but she has a broken arm. He'll get angry again and storm off, but come back ten minutes later begging to be forgiven.
"I wanted to get flowers for my new Okaa-chan." She said. This would result the best. Everyone happy. Neji, his mother and mine.
"Okay, I'll get some for mine too."
Everyone was so easy to please, I found. With what I could do I had never let anyone down. And I would keep them all happy, everyone I held dear.
Sakura had seen it, a number of times. Sometime she was present when he took it off, unintentionally showing her. And she had to admit that if it wasn't for Sasuke, and wasn't for the fact that she had seen how handsome Sasuke'll be, she was sure that she would have a crush of Kakashi's angel face.
He was stunning, hands down the most beautiful face, excluding Sasuke's of course, that she'd ever set her inner eyes on. He truly would have females banging on his door if he were to show his face openly. Maybe that was the reason that he hid his face behind a mask, because it would start a riot.
Still, she truly felt lucky, and a little smug, that she got to see Kakashi's face long before Sasuke and his team ever would. And she was sure, once everything calmed down and Sasuke knew of her gift, she would rub it in his face. She would rub Kakashi's masked face into Sasuke's face.
To the world Hyuuga Hiashi was cold steel, he was the kind that didn't bend or even heat in the most intense fire. He was a man that always got his way and never let anyone get theirs. Some called him cruel, some called him mean, some even when as far as to call him evil. But everyone agreed, Hyuuga Hiashi did not bend. He did not bend for the Elders, Hyuuga or Village, he didn't even really bend for his Hokage. But for one person this strong man was putty. Sakura would get her way with her father, it does not matter what kind of future she choose, that would never change. Sure, he had moments of defiance, where he would say no, or do something in anger. But always he would soon melt for his pink haired princess. If Sakura wanted a pony, the next morning the Hyuuga compound would be turned into a ranch to please the little girl.
This was one of the reasons she did not have a very strong leg to stand on when she wanted to be outside the compound walls. Anything she wanted would be brought to her at her fathers command. Hanabi, from when she was very young, envied Sakura for the hold she had on her father. Sakura envied the freedom Hanabi had.
Sakura didn't want to have her father constantly do what pleased her. Sakura didn't want to take advantage of her otou-sama, but even still, Sakura was only young and she had moments of weakness.
We were walking back to the main house, we had taken a walk in the garden. I was told everything was in bloom and looked wonderful. This I already knew, I had already seen this
"Otou-sama, can I ride on your back. Pretty please."
"No Sakura. I am the Hyuuga head, not a pack mule."
"But I love the wind in my hair, I love feeling as if I'm almost flying." I said with a smile.
"No Sakura. It is not proper." He replied.
I sniffed, and in my minds eye I saw that steel spine bend. Hyuuga Hiashi let go of my hand to lean over and picked me up. Gently placing me on his shoulders, I squealed and held out my hands, I really did feel as if I was flying.
And though Sakura was smart and mature and thoughtful beyond her years, she was still only four.
I saw Hinata coming first. She would be my first onee-chan, I would be closest to her. Then would be Hanabi. She will not like me, I would try everything, it would never happen. The sad thing was, I'd never stop trying. But one day I will make her happy too.
Hinata would be abducted at three. They would not be successful, they would be stopped but Hinata would never be the same. Father would see her as a burden, good for nothing. If it was me, I would be locked away in the Hyuuga compound for many years. I'd be constantly watched and Hinata and Otou-sama would never forget.
Hinata and I started to sleep in each others beds a couple of times when she was three. I was taken a few months her third birthday. Uncle Hizashi was killed soon after. Neji was never the same, but he was happier with me. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'd known before it happened and did nothing. He'd never forgive me and he'd let the hate take over. He didn't need to know that his light, his Kura, didn't stop his fathers death.
Stricken twice already he couldn't handle a third blow. She never told Neji what she could do. She had told Hinata, so guilty, so sad, so sorry. It was her choice, it would have been her but Sakura took her place. Sakura knew and she protected her younger sister.
"You protect the ones you love Hinata."
"Saku-nee?"
"If you love someone you'll make sure that they don't get hurt and I love you Hinata."
She told Hinata not to tell anyone, not Otou or Okaa or Nii or anyone, never tell.
"Okay Saku-nee. I promise."
At five she learnt how to change the futures in her dreams. She still had not choice of what she part of the future she would dream about, but she could now control the choices. If she was in the dream, she could change what she said, what she did, and ultimately, how it turned out. It was like her visions in her waking hour. She was glad that she could now do this. It would help.
Sakura would often spend hours in her room alone. She would sit at her desk staring at both everything and nothing. Most of the time she would be reviewing the future. Often all it took was for her to decide something for her to see the outcome, it was how she read many books. She would decide to read it, or have it read to her, it took less time then actually reading them. So she had read all the books she owned without actually picking them up. Some of her family found it strange that she spent a lot of time alone in her room, but they left her alone mostly.
They did not mind if she spent hours in her room as long as she had fulfilled all of her obligations. In fact, she had a lot of freedom, in her room no one bothered her as long as she was not late for meals. This also gave Sakura a lot of freedom to sneak out.
She would do a multitude of things while she was out, some ranging from collecting medical supplies to training. However, most of the time she snuck out to do something that no little girl, blind or not, should do. Sakura gambled.
It was true, she abused her gift and she often snuck out to gamble. It was, in her opinion, necessary. She had plans set in the future, plans that were not cheap, plans that needed a lot of ryo. It was for the greater good, the future rested in the balance and money would help make that future a better place.
So she didn't feel all that guilty of cheating a few nobles out of there inheritance. And it wasn't like they were going to starve for it. Still after the first ten million ryos she decided that, maybe, just maybe, that she should stop before she became addicted.
...And then again maybe the future needed another ten million.
The first time Sakura saw a dark future during waking hours she was nine. She had been learning how to cook, Sakura had often seen herself taking food to Sasuke but she didn't know how to cook. She had been learning though, she had started at six, and now made meals that were incredible.
She had seen a man, with long hair and pale skin. He had weird eyes and he was killing people. Lots of blood, lots of bodies, lots of death. She didn't like it, or him, she felt sick. Who was he? She didn't recognise any of the people. No one. And then it was gone. She didn't want to see it and shoved it away, something that was impossible to do to her night time visions.
A few days later word of the Uchiha massacre reached her ears. Uchiha Sasuke was the only survivor. She saw her love would be crying for days.
Of course Sakura knew the jutsu that Sasuke taught her, with her foresight she was able to practice jutsu's that wouldn't be shown to her for years. Though a lot of them she simply did not have the chakra for, but that was besides the point. The point was that Sasuke needed to teach her something, he needed to help her in someway. His pride would take a hit if she offered to train him, and he would say no instantly. He didn't want to be trained by a blind girl, sure he would see the benefits to the things she could teach him, but he simply would not go for it. However, if it was an exchange, he would be willing to trade off, it would not damage his pride and he would also feel as if he was not weaker then a blind girl.
The things she did for that boy.
Sakura tried to never ignored a vision after the Uchiha massacre. Not the sleeping one, she had no choice there, and not the waking, where she did have a choice. She watched them all, the horrible, the nice, the...imtamate. She violated the privacy of so many people, but she knew everything that would happen. She tried to make it up to everyone but it was hard, she was still stuck inside the Hyuuga compound. There were so many things that could have been stopped, but she couldn't do it on her own. She would save people when she was older. She knew it would be hard and she knew that it would be long away but she'd do it. She planned it out years in advance. Every move, she could work around her restrictions, the blindness, being forbidden to leave the Hyuuga compound, money problems. At first it was hard to put the dream visions in order, but she learnt to take in the background details. It became easier after that. With her foresight she could make the world a better place. And that was what she would do, she would help end all the suffering and make peace, end war.
The first time Hanabi would show her hate against Sakura, they would be practicing. It could go one of three ways.
The first, Sakura would easily beat her, she'd be hailed as a prodigal child, even though she was blind, she'd be entered into the academy and storm passed everyone, she'd be one of the greatest ninja's in the world. Hanabi would hate her and one day she would go crazy, she'd kill their father and then herself.
The second, Hanabi and Sakura would be evenly matched, they would both be thought of as equal, Hanabi would not be happy about this, she would train and train, in secret and with their father. One day she would push herself too far and die of chakra exhaustion.
The third, Sakura would be beaten, badly. Hanabi would show all her dislike for Sakura, and then, Hanabi would almost kill her. Sakura would be banned from Hyuuga training, she'd be restricted even more. She would be constantly looked down on by everyone in the Hyuuga family. But Hanabi would be happy, she'd grow up safe and sane. Sakura would never be the Hyuuga heir.
Sakura never wanted to be the heir anyway.
Neji would protect Sakura, even after his father died. He loved her that much. Though his hate was strong too and he didn't like being in the presence of her family. In one future she dreamed, she'd asked about it.
"Fate is inevitable. I was fated to be born as a branch member, it was a terrible hand I was dealt. I was dealt the hand of a caged bird. You have been dealt a worse fate, You've been dealt the fate of an outsider born into the main branch. You, who have been born blind into a family with the all seeing Byakugan. Hiashi-sama does not let you venture beyond the clan and everyone here despises you. You are the only person in the main family that I would give my life for." Neji didn't mean for it to be cruel, he was honest with me.
"Besides, I would never let anything happen to you Sakura. I'd protect you from anything. I'll always be here for you." It would be then that he would lean in close and try to kiss her.
She never asked. She would never put Neji through that. Sakura did love Neji, but as her cousin, her brother. He was her Neji-nii, he would be nothing more. Besides, it would fade, it would take a while, but it would fade.
Hinata was shy, she had been for years and would be for more years to come. Hinata would grow up and she wouldn't meet the Hyuuga standards. At sixteen she would be forced into a marriage to better the clans connection. It would be stopped by a young boy who would run away with her in the dead of the night. They would marry and return to the Hyuuga clan. She would be disgraced, disobeying orders and marrying someone of no honor, the clan would force a seal on her. Sakura had told her this. She looked grim but then nodded, a look of determination on her face.
"Then I shall claw these eyes out and hand them to the clan."
She would live blind, but free. She would never be a ninja again and would live her life as a civilian. If Sakura could, she would make sure that it didn't happen, but a blind free life is better than a seeing caged one.
Sakura found that to make everyone happy for the longest, she would have to say a civilian for longer than she'd liked. She would be training herself but she wouldn't have a ninja rank. It would be some time before she was a ninja of Konoha but she knew it would happen. She'd made sure that nothing would get in the way of that moment. It would be one of the greatest moments in her life. One of her better dreams of the future.
Sakura had snuck out of the compound for a very important reason. She needed to teach an idiot to walk. Up trees, that is.
She had a dream last night after getting home from her training session with Sasuke, which had left her tired and sore. In her dream there was a boy with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Naruto.
Naruto would be one of Sasuke's teammates and one that Sasuke would be constantly competing with. He was not too bright but he was strong, very strong and his ninja skills, while not all that conventional, works wonders.
But none of this was important to why she had snuck out of the compound to train the baka. It was all for a mission, one that would not happen for around a year and a half.
It wasn't very hard to get him to want to train with her, all it took was walking up a tree in front of him and he started to scream at her to teach him.
"Please old man? just tell me how you did it." He asked.
I stood, feet stuck to the tree and stared at him through my henge. I looked like a middle aged, brown eyed, brown haired ninja.
"No." I said.
She kept on refusing his request until, finally. Naruto was able to 'convince' the man to tell him how it was done. And she did, she told the blond boy the key to molding chakra to tree walk before leaving to, 'train somewhere where their was no annoying brats.'
With Sakura's work done she returned back to the compound.
She had seen a dark war. She saw many terrible things in it, death, destruction, many innocent people being caught in the middle. She'd see the way it would end too. It wouldn't end good for her side. Lucky for them they had her, when the war came to ravage this world she would be there to make sure that they won. She would for the first time speak up on her power and lead them to victory. She would have the power to ask anything, and she would take advantage of this. One of her worst dreams of the future but still, it was one that was unchangeable.
Sakura didn't want to do it. You had to believe her when she said it. She did not want to give Sasuke that scroll with her...delicates. She truly did not, she had seen the future of what would happen if he opened that scroll and just remembering it made her blush.
Sasuke was standing there with a look of utter horror and shock plastered on his face as he held the little pink scrap of cloth. The tiny things seem so innocent yet, at the same time, so scandalous.
"Teme, Kakashi-sensei is awa- what's that?" Naruto walked into the room and caught Sasuke holding the pink cotton.
Before Sasuke could answer Sai walked in too, quickly he shoved the thing into his pocket but he was sure that both boys had already got a eye full.
"I didn't know that you wore girl underwear Sasuke-kun." Sai said.
Sasuke had turned the same color as the material in his pocket. He could feel a heat coming off it that, may have been imaginary, but still burned uncomfortably.
"They're not mine." He said.
"TEME. YOU STOLE SOME RANDOM GIRLS PANTIES. WHAT WILL SAKURA-CHAN SAY." Naruto screamed at him.
"Dobe. They're Sakura's." Sasuke said, still pink and slowly darkening.
"YOU STOLE SAKURA-CHAN'S PANTIES? THAT'S WORSE TEME!"
Sasuke would punch him and would not be able to look Sakura in the eye for a long time. She would also lose her favourite pair of panties because Sasuke would be too shy to give them to her and did not know how to put it back into the scroll. It also wouldn't help that Naruto would start calling him 'panties thief' instead of Teme.
But, she sighed. Yamato would know if she was lying, and that was because he would hunt through her small bag frantically, hysterically, almost crying. He didn't want to go underwear shopping for a little girl, even if said little girl was his blind god-daughter. And, he also didn't want said girls boyfriend having said missing underwear.
So the only way for Sakura to join the mission with Sasuke and his team was to, she blushed, give Sasuke her underwear. She just had to make sure she got there before he got a chance to use that scroll.
Sakura knew that when she met Sasuke her life would change, that it would be better. It was too. She spent many day reliving, or living for the first time, her days with him. Even though she had seen everything before, it all felt so new. The her senses of smell, taste and touch they were no longer a dream, they were real. They still gave the aura of unrealness though. But what was to be expected when you'd met so many times, even if you only really met once.
Sakura would of told her father, but these futures ended very grimly. He would need proof, she would give it. Even if she said he couldn't trust anyone he would crack, when the Hyuuga Elders tell him that she would be married off, to a man that lived in Mist he'd tell them.
"Sakura can see into the future."
They'd ask him to prove it, two choices.
She'd say she had no clue what he was talking about, lying to him for the first time in her life. Her father so embarrassed, so disgraced, he in a moment of anger would agree to marry her off. She'd be sent off at once, they would have already packed a bag for her and she would never set foot in Konoha again. Her husband would be a terrible man, he would beat her and be angry that she didn't have the Byakugan, that she was blind. It would take a year for him to lose control enough for her to need medical attention that she couldn't give herself. When word would reach her father he'd try everything to get her back, he'd fail and sink into a depression, slowly he would die.
She'd prove it, she would tell them. They would call off the marriage, she would be treated with the utmost respect, though no one would know why. They would invite her to every meeting, she would know everything about the clan. The Hyuuga clan would thrive and grow, more powerful, more rich...more corupt. They would start to manipulate her, do this, make this happen, tell me would we win. So power hungry they would plan to take over the village, then the other villages would fall, then the world. The Hyuuga would rule and Sakura would help. They would threaten her if she did not help, we'll kill Neji, they would. No longer would there be main and branch houses, there will be council than Hyuuga than everyone else. Next would be Hinata, Hanabi, Okaa-chan even Otou-sama. After she was alone they would pick random people. Tell me seer, where is the resistance, if you don't I will kill a baby and every time I ask I shall kill another. The world would crumble.
She never told her father.
When Sakura was nine she would develope a...side effect. The 'side affect', was caused by her suppressing her wants and her emotion's that would not make people happy. With no outlet to take her anger out with she develope, a very loud, very annoying and very distracting Inner.
She remembered the incident that brought Inner to the surface.
Sakura was walking around the Hyuuga compound with Hinata. They walked in silence, both comfortable with just the company, they didn't get to spend a lot of time together but they made do.
Sakura really enjoyed her time with her little Imouto, Hinata was a delight, so kind and thoughtful. Sakura really did love her.
"Doesn't have Byakugan, can't see, not a really Hyuuga at all."
I heard their whispers, of course I did, I was blind and that made my other sense's really strong, like hearing. And, though they said these things in whispers, to me, they were deafeningly loud.
I always heard them, every time I was in view of the Hyuuga public I was forced to listen as the mocked and ridiculed me. But I did not utter a word, I could not, because of what my father would do to them if he learnt what his clan was saying about his daughter.
"And the other one, I shutter to think what the clans future would be like with them as our heirs. I mean Hinata-sama doesn't even like fighting, she's such a disgrace."
A great anger overcame me, cold white fury, but just like every other time, I suppressed the emotion even though I didn't want to. I wanted to spin around and let loose my anger on my sister's behalf. But I didn't, it wasn't proper Hyuuga behaviour. Only this time something was created and my body was overtaken by someone else and I spoke.
"I can hear you." I had stopped and I had turned to the source of the voice, I pointed a finger at the woman, because no man had that much of a catty, whiny, snotty voice.
"My. Sister. Is. Not. A. Disgrace." I advanced on her, with each word I took a step in her direction.
She was denying everything, she never called Hinata-sama a disgrace, she would never mock the esteemed heiresses of the main house.
I ignored her rambling and drew my fist back, with a mighty shout, I punched her. In my mind I saw what would happen, she would fly a good five feet and at the end of her flight, she would be out cold. Knowing made the punch so much more satisfying.
Man that punch was awesome, did you see the air she got? We rock.
I was able to keep the shock off my face but there was no hiding it from the thing in my head.
First of all, not a thing, second you did not deny that that was an awesome punch, and third, you can call me Inner.
And ever since, Sakura's been stuck with her.
What do you mean stuck? I'm a delight.
Sakura dreamed about telling the Sandaime once. He would be kind and would believe her straight off, no proof needed. She would help him run the village, she'd tell what to look out for, how to keep ninja from dying, who's teams would work best together. The village hidden in the leaves would thrive. She would ask him not to tell anyone, he'd agree.
He'd break his promise when the council would get suspicious. Lead by Danzo, the village elders would corner the Hokage into telling them why he was taking advise from a little blind girl. He'd tell them. They would smile at there luck, the village would be great with a leader that could see the future.
Danzo would kidnap her in the dead of night, he'd brainwash her and hypntize her with his Sharingan eyes, she would be his puppet. He would keep her hidden, only he would know of her existence. With her he would take control of Konoha and mold it to his will. Every shinobi would be cold, emotionless, puppets. The perfect killers, at will they would kill children and old, woman and crippled. They wouldn't have sympathy or pity, they would have no morals or code. Just follow orders. That would be all the Shinobi of the leaf would be able to do. But Danzo, at least, would not use her to take over the world.
Hidden leaf would be so successful that the other villages would follow in their foot steps. Their shinobi would be shaped like Konoha's. Ninja would be killing machines, ready at the call of their leader. One man would remember the old ways of shinobi and would one day kill off every leader to free everyone. Raised to fight, to kill, though, they would all start a war, killing meaninglessly, no orders needed, just killing. The world would lay in wastes and no one would survive. And when Danzo dies I would starve to death, locked away, no one would know where I was and the part I had in the destruction of the world.
She didn't tell the third.
Sakura was in the Hyuuga garden with Neji. Neji was picking flowers and giving them to her, she'd smell them, feel them and then put them in piles. They were picking flowers for Sakura's special healing balm. She loved these moments, she didn't have to look into the future, she could just live in the moment. No vision's, it was a nice change.
Also, she liked spending time with Neji, she rarely got to anymore, since he'd been put on a genin team he's been training like crazy. He barely had time to eat, let alone time to spend with her. The few times he walked her to her training with Sasuke was all she really got with him and she missed her Neji-nii.
So when he said he'd go with her to pick flower's she was so happy and that made Neji happy too. They sat in their own little corner of the world, undisturbed, that was until they heard a loud commotion heading their way.
Sakura saw, in her mind, as Neji looked up into the direction of the noise, his smile fell off of his face and an angry look crossed his face. Curious, Sakura went to check the future and was astonished, how could she have missed this coming. It was something that she usually caught, but then again in the future she'd seen yesterday she had not asked Neji to join her. It was a split second decision, one that had changed the course of the future. Not because of Neji, no, it was because of her.
She didn't get any time to think on it because just then there was a whoosh and then someone started.
"Neji-san, it is very unyouthful to be late. But never fear, Tenten-san and I have come here to show you the youthful way. We have come to make sure that you don't pick up Gai-sensei's eternal rivals bad habits." The ninja went on.
Just then another voice broken the rant of the first ninja. "It is very unlike you to be late Neji. We came to see if you were alright." Sakura heard a female voice, and in her head she saw the other ninja. She was very pretty, but her beauty was covered by her tomboyish demeanour that was not broken even though she was wearing a dress.
"Something came up." Neji said plainly.
Sakura stood, feeling really guilty about making Neji late.
"I'm terribly sorry Neji, I didn't know you had plans already." Sakura said softly and sincerely.
It was true too, Sakura felt really bad, she just wanted to spend some time with her Nii-san, maybe she should have asked him if he was busy first.
"It is fine." He said, however it did not ease the guilt that was eating away at her. Sakura heard, as well as saw inside her head. As Neji stepped closer to her, then she felt his hand take hers and squeezed it.
"It's fine Kura." He used his old nickname for her, and though it didn't ease the guilt, it did make her smile.
"Neji, you never told me that you had a girlfriend." Even without sight Sakura knew that the girl was jealous, Tenten seemed to like dear nii-san. Sakura was sure it was just a superficial crush right now, Neji was probably the most handsome boy and best ninja that Tenten had ever met. What was there not to like.
Sakura broke out into a fit of giggles, shaking her head, in her mind she saw Neji huff.
"No." She said, still giggling slightly. "I'm not his girlfriend. Neji-nii has no girlfriend." Sakura told her.
She seemed to brighten up slightly.
"Wow. You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. You shine with a youthfulness I have never seen before. Please be my girlfriend, I'll protect you with my life." He yelled in Sakura's face, she saw his teeth sparkling in her minds eye too.
Both Neji and Tenten gave him incredulous looks before Tenten decided to speak.
"You don't even know each other Lee." She shook her head.
Lee gave a short pause before yelling in Sakura's face again. "My Name Is Rock Lee. What is your name my beautiful blossom."
Sakura smiled kindly, though she suppressed recoiling from the odd boy.
"My name is Hyuuga Sakura. And I don't think I can be your girlfriend. I already have a boyfriend. Sorry." The last part was a lie, She wasn't sorry at all, in fact she was glad to have Sasuke, he warded off all the unwanted attention of boys. Both knowingly and unknowingly.
He deflated slightly before straightening up with a look of determination declaring that he will win her heart. She merely smiled at him, knowing that he would never be able to do that.
She spent the day with Neji and his team, picking flowers. She enjoyed it, even though she didn't get Neji to herself, at least she got to spend some time with him. She even made some new friends, even if one was very strange.
"Sakura-chan! I have flowers for you, they're much more beautiful. Yosh."
"You baka, that's poison ivy."
I giggled slightly. Very strange indeed.
Sakura dreamed of telling Sasuke, when they first met. This too would not go well. Skeptical at first he would write her off as crazy. She would, in the end, convince him but with no bond tying him to her Sasuke would use her as a simple tool, nothing more. She would stand behind him and tell him everything. Little more then a slave, in the end they both would meet a horrible end. Sasuke often died or simply gave into the darkness within him. It did not matter if she told him how they would love each other. He would scoff and, by sheer will power and stubbornness, he would not love her, in fact he would come to hate her. He'd turn crazy and kill her, he'd die soon after.
She didn't tell Sasuke.
Little Sakura glared at it. Though she couldn't see it, she knew that it was there. It would just sit there and mock her, that little red devil. It teased her, saying how there was nothing she could do with it. Nothing that could make it good, make it better. It was horrible and no matter what she did it would always be horrible. And for that Sakura hated it.
Sakura hated tomatoes.
There was just no getting around it. It was inedible. She didn't like how they were so slimy on the inside, yet so silky on the outside. She hated how easy they were to bruise, to break. She even hated the taste of the little red devils.
But what she hated the most was the fact that they were key to the future she wanted. To get everything she desired she had to get on with the deceptive fruit. She had to get to know how to cook it, how to prepare it, how to use it.
The only problem was that she had no clue how to do that. If she didn't like tomatoes, in anyway, how would she know if they would be Sasuke approved? How would she know that these things would not poison him? She didn't know, and she hated the little things for it.
Sakura straightened and reached for the red thing. Her mind was made up, she would start liking these things, she would eat a million if she had to. So with a large breath she bit into the tomato.
Her face scrunched up as soon as it touched her taste buds. She plugged her nose and carried on chewing. After a few bites she swallowed the thing. She smiled brightly to herself when it was in her stomach.
Tomatoes weren't that bad. She thought but soon retracted her thought when she gagged and the vomited the bite of tomato that she had just eaten. Sakura twisted her nose up into the air. They were worst coming back up. Little Sakura sighed as she got the mop.
She hated tomatoes.
Sakura knew it was weird, she knew it was strange and creepy. She knew that what she was doing was called stalking, but she couldn't help it. He was her future, she needed to see him in person.
Well, see him as well as a blind person could see someone.
She had snuck out of the compound and into his training ground, she wasn't going to meet him for another year but she found herself needing him. She had started to get little glimpses of the far future while she was awake, when she would be in a state of extreme calmness. When she was meditating or daydreaming she would see things as she did in her sleep.
Most of the time she saw unimportant things, like dinner a week from now or what the weather would be like. But she also got a few glimpses of Sasuke and they made her want to see him. He felt so close, as if meeting him was just around the corner, she could almost feel him.
But she could not wait another second, she had to hear his voice, that smooth deep voice that made her whole body tingle. And so she snuck out and when to his training ground. She hid and listened, watching through her minds eye, as he trained.
For the rest of the day she sat there, hidden behind a tree until he left. Then she came out and touched the spot he had just gotten up from. He had collapsed onto the grass after he could train no more. It was still warm.
She laid there for a while, just basking in the afternoon sun, in Sasuke's training ground. She felt so close to him, yet also so far away. But it was a price that needed to be paid, right now she would have to wait, he was not ready to meet her...not yet.
Sometimes things got too much for young Sakura. She felt the constant pressure, the knowledge that she held everyone's future in the palm of her hand. With one decision she could save a life or end one, all without lifting a finger. And the visions did not stop, she had them when she was asleep and when she was awake. Always she saw these things and only in the day time could she push them away. She was living in the future all the time.
So for the first five years of Sakura's life the Hyuuga family had bore witness to her extreme mood swings. Her tantrums were legend. It was said that the smallest things could set her into an angry inferno.
Sakura slammed her fist on the table and her rice and fish went all over the ground. She was sitting in the middle of a very important dinner with her family and the clan Elders. She had just saw a vision of Hinata. The girls at the ninja academy are brutal to her, tomorrow, they would go to far though. The constantly tease Hinata, about her personality, her Hyuuga eyes and over all her whole look.
But mostly those girls were just insanely jealous of Hinata and Sasuke. Hinata, as the only girl who did not fawn over the Uchiha boy, was the only one whom he did not blatantly ignore out of all them. That was not saying that Sasuke went out of his way to find her and talk to her, he never talked to anyone really. It was only because a nod, a simple nod. About a few months ago Hinata had ran into the dark-haired boy, she had apologised and he gave her a nod, as if to say that she was forgiven. The girls started to pick on her after that.
Tomorrow though, they would find her and they would cut off her beautiful long hair until she had none. They had this insane idea that Sasuke liked girls with long hair, so Hinata's long dark locks were something that they envied. Long hair on the girls at the academy marked that they liked Sasuke, that they were interested in him. Hinata had the longest hair in their class, it was beautiful and caused her many second glances from young boys. So those despicable girls would get together and corner Hinata.
I growled. I didn't want this to happen, I searched for a way to help her. I found none. The only way for those girls to leave her alone would be for Hinata to show up with hair already short.
"Sakura." I turned my head to the sound of Otou-sama. "What is the matter." Even though the words sounded cold and harsh to anyone elses ears, some may even think that they were threatening. I knew that there was concern under the hard exterior.
I didn't know what to say and it was making the future unclear.
"There was a scale in my fish." I finally said, I was still seething and that made the words sound foreign and cold, even to my own ears.
As soon as the words were out of my mouth the future set back into place and I saw what my comment would do.
Inwardly I sighed at the conferences of my actions and careless comment. The cook would be fired, I quickly searched to see if there was anything that I could do to save the cook.
I quickly found the perfect way to redeem the cook of my mistake.
I put on a perfectly delightful mask and waited for desert, that would be the cooks saving grace. Otou-sama would have words with the cook but he would not be fired.
Or a blubbering mess.
Sakura awoke bawling, the dream she had was terrible. Sasuke, he was so still, so cold. completely lifeless and young, so young. Laying there with his body bruised and battered, he looked dead.
Was he dead? Was that the future for him? To die so young, without being able to see anything, without fulfilling any of his dream.
"Sakura-sama." I heard mine and my sister's private sensei call to me. "Are you alright?"
I'd fallen asleep during out study session and had the horrible nightmare about Sasuke dying, something that I could not admit to. Otou-sama would be very displeased being informed that I'd fallen to sleep during my lessons.
Still, even knowing how it was not helping my case, I still could not help the tears from falling. I could not stop the sadness that consumed me.
So I carried on crying as my sensei and Hinata tried to comfort me and when I was calm and was asked what had upset me. I'd made an excuse about the thrid shinobi war being horrible, all the suffering.
My speech was so moving that by the end of it Hinata was crying too and our sensei was smiling sadly at me before nodding in agreement.
The lesson continued and she was quiet for the rest of the day, and that night, she didn't sleep.
Sakura loved to learn new things. It didn't matter what they were, she liked knowing what to do in the events that were coming up. She liked to know that, because she learnt to cook, had read this book or learnt this jutsu, she could make someone smile, help someone or even save a life.
That was what lead her to The Sharp Kunai, it was a shinobi hang out that often occupied by Konoha jounin. It was a bar at night but during day it was just a place to have lunch for old, wary and paranoid ninja. They served their food in silver plates and their drinks in silver cups, being that silver nullified most poisons. There were also multiple exits yet there was one wall that was solid that ninja could keep their backs too.
Sakura had snuck out of the compound and henged herself, she had then went to The Sharp Kunai with a mission in mind. To find a teacher. Not a permanent one, that would not do at all. No, she needed a teacher that could teach her a few things but that wouldn't commit to teaching her full time. So she stood in the entrance of The Sharp Kunai, flicking through the very near future and almost sighed.
She was hidden under an elaborate genjutsu, one of her own design, one that would not be recognised like a normal, genin level, henge. It was something that could stand under the scrutiny of even a jounin.
So she pushed her shoulders back and walked to one of the tables that were full of jounin. This was a table with ninja that she'd come to know very well. which included the likes of a beautiful red eyed woman, a smoking bearded man, a green spandex wearing man and a grey haired masked ninja.
The conversation stopped as Sakura neared the table, she ignored everyone else at the table as she walked towards her chosen teacher. Sakura stood in front of him, her eyes, though unseeing, conveying a sense of looking as she used her gift to see. She started at him for a second longer before dropping onto one knee.
"Please teach me, I've heard of your greatness and I want to be taught by you." Sakura said head bowed slightly.
There was a beat of silence before the others at the table burst into noise, trying to get me to reconsider my choice of sensei.
"You look like a good kid but if you want to keep your innocence, run."
"This man should not be around kids, or old people...or dogs."
"Him?...Him?"
Sakura ignored them and looked at my new temporary sensei.
"No one else would do." She told them truthfully and almost cringed when he spoke the words that had heard before, thanks to her foresight.
"Of course I'll train you my young little flower bud. Soon, with my training you will bloom into a wonderful flower. The Power of Youth flows strongly from you. We will start training now. Yosh!" Sakura almost cringed as her new sensei spoke.
She had no choice, when choosing a sensei, her pickings were slim, there were not that many people that would train a stranger who could be anyone. Also there was the fact that she didn't want any of them to train her. Then there her power, with that she could get many training regiments out of ninja without them even knowing they gave it to her. Beacuse, by their perspective, they didn't. But somethings, like Gai-sensei's brutal Taijutsu training exercise's, were something that couldn't be learnt in vision's and solo trainings.
All of this was true, however, this was not the largest reason that Sakura had chosen Maito Gai.
"...then we shall do four thousand push ups and tw-" He was cut off by a tall man that had, shoulder length, white hair.
"Gai, how many times do I have to tell you." He said. "You can't be so loud, it makes the older ninja jumpy."
"Sorry my youthful fellow. You may tell your friends not to worry, I shall lower my voice levels and higher my youth levels. Yosh!" He said Not lowering his voice at all, in fact he was getting louder.
"Stop calling me that you know I hate it." The man grumbled.
Gai looked slightly confused and the man sighed, almost as if this happened often.
"You don't remember me do you." The white haired man said as he started to share stories with Gai in an attempt to jog his memory.
"You were at my birthday party...last week. You got me a green spandex suit and sung 'a very youthful birthday'." He said but Gai still looked confused.
Sakura sighed but managed a smile, though it was small. The largest reason she choose Maito Gai was for his track record with remembering people. And when the week was up, she didn't want Gai-sensei to remember her face, even if it was her genjutsu one.
The future she wanted to see come true, she only got a glimmer of it once, but it was enough. Enough for her to fall in love with it, nothing short of that would appease her. She wanted that future.
"Thank you" he'd say smiling slightly, we were laying next to each other face to face.
"For what?" Sakura asked.
"For staying. For leading me here, leading me to what I truly wanted."
My hand would come up to caress his cheek. I would never have left him. His goals were my goals. My strength was his to use.
"I'd do anything for you Sasuke." I smiled. "You are my husband after all, no one is more important to me then you...and Achi-kun of course."
He smirked, laying a hand on my flat stomach and rubbing it slightly. "Don't forget about Mikoto-chan."
I laid my hand on top of his and smiled up at him. "I'd never forget about Mikoto."
And that was the future Sakura fought for, it was why she would suffer through these many hard years. For Sasuke. For Achi-kun...And for little Mikoto.
I hope you like it. Tell me what you think and this fic is going to be about Sakura's life away from Sasuke. I mean, just because Sasuke is not around, it doesn't mean that Sakura's life is put on pause. Anyway, see ya next time.