''...huff...huff...'' Sakura panted. She kept her eyes on the road underneath her feet, watching tile after tile appear and dissapear in and out of her line of vision. She was jogging.

It was a Friday evening, and the sun had just begun to set.

It was dinner time, so the town had quieted down. All Sakura heard was the blowing of the wind and the tapping noise that her running shoes made as they collided with the pavement.

She loved jogging. She loved every second of it.

When she jogged, she just chose a place to run to and took off. Nobody bullied her when she was running. She had time to think about all kinds of things; life, death, her dreams... and just thought!

When she had closed the kitchen door behind her, she noticed the setting sun from the corners of her eyes and and just started running towards it.
Everywhere she looked were things that normally didn't stand out. Things like street lanterns, stone benches and waste bins. In the light of the sun though, they were mesmerizing. They were coloured a bright orange, and seemed to sparkle and shine in the light.

Sakura smiled. Maybe, one day, something like that would happen to her. She would no longer be the boring, ugly waste bin. She would shine. She would shine brightly. So bright, that when people looked at her, they would cry from the deepest of their hearts.

All she needed to accomplish that, was a sun.

About half an hour later, Sakura returned to her house. She looked up at the now dark sky for one last time, before opening up the kitchen door and going inside.

She instantly covered her ears. Her parents were shouting at each other.

''-You don't give a shit whether Sakura and me are happy or not! Our daughter is obviously suffering from depression and I don't know why and all you do is work!'' That was her mother.

''If you come home, you are always drunk!'' Her mother continued, ''Get out of the house. Get out!''

She could now see them. They were in the hallway.

Her mother was pointing one finger at her husband accusingly. He was walking backwards, looking quite unimpressed. He was obviously drunk.
Her dad now stood with his back against the front door. Sakura took a few steps in the direction of the hallway, wondering whether to do something or not.

''You're the crazy one,'' It was hard to understand her father's drunken mumbling, but he was talking loudly, ''You should be getting out of the house, I'm the one who's paying the bills.''

''What bills? What damn' bills? You haven't been going to your work for a week! I was called by your boss today, you are fired! We are completely broke, Phill. We're broke!'' Her mother hung her head.

Sakura's dad mumbled something that sounded like, ''You know what? I had sex with Anne last night, and guess what?'' Her father licked his lips, ''She was better than you.''

Then her mother's head snapped up, ''That's it. Get out of the house!''

When her father didn't show any signs of wanting to leave, the woman opened the door and pushed him out.

''Go die, you asshole!'' She shouted at him. As he turned around to walk down the small stone steps, he tripped and managed to catch himself just in

time.

Sakura's mother slammed the door shut behind her husband. For a second, she looked like she didn't care, but the opposite was proved as the red haired woman started shivering and then collapsed on the floor. She buried her face in her hands and started crying.

Sakura was not sure what to do. She wasn't good with crying people. She never cried.

Having watched the previous scene, she was ready to puke. But she did not shed a tear.

Sakura bit her lip as she walked up to her mom and helped her up.

''Come, mom. It's alright, everything will be ok.'' the pinkette shushed her sobbing mother.

She half-dragged, half-carried the red haired woman into the kitchen and helped her sit down on one of the kitchen chairs. She then turned on the water boiler and grabbed a glass teacup and a tea bag.

As she looked at her mother over her shoulder, she sighed, dropped the tea bag in the cup and then filled it with boiling hot water.

Sakura's parents fought often lately. They had once be a loving and happy family, but slowly but surely things started falling apart. The love in their family crumbed down slowly, one piece at time, until all that was left was an uncertain future and piles of debts and unpaid bills.

Her dad had become an alcaholic and started dating other women. He thought his wife didn't know anything about it, but she did. She just knew that, when she confronted him with it, that would mean that everything was truly over.

Of course, it already was over. Every hint of happiness had disappeared from their family a long time ago.

But when you don't stop believing, you can make everything seem like there still is hope. A chance on luck. A better life.

...Even when the conscious part of you tells you you're being silly.

''Here, mom,'' Sakura said, putting down the cup of tea on the table and shoving it in her mother's direction. The woman had put her arms down on the table and rested her head on them. Even though Sakura wasn't able to see her mother's face, the slight shocking of her shoulders revealed the fact that she was still crying.

The pink-haired teen understood that she wouldn't be able to help anymore, and walked up the stairs and into her room.

She instantly walked up to her bed and fell down on it, without even kicking her shoes off.

'Everything'll be alright soon. I just know it.' was the last thing that crossed her mind before she fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

As Sakura feared, her father did not come back. In fact, she didn't know if he was even alive.

She had asked a few of his friends whether they knew where he was, and they had all replied that he had taken Maria, the girl whom he had cheated on her mother with, and just left.

''They just rode off to the sunset,'' one of the middle-aged men had told her, shrugging his shoulders.
Sakura had thanked them and gone home.

It was obvious that her mother wasn't able to take a job right now. She still broke down crying now and then.

''Just a few... memories,'' She would answer Sakura, when she asked what was wrong.

All she did was sit on her favourite arm chair, and watch TV. At least... That was what it looked like. If Sakura looked close enough, she could see her mother's attention wasn't on the tv screen, but at the window behind it.

As if she still expected her husband to come back.

''Haruno! Snap out of it!'' Someone barked into her right ear.

Sakura's head snapped up, and she looked into the faces of two elderly women. One of them was holding a carton of milk out to her. She had spaced out on the spot. When Sakura looked to her right, she saw a middle-aged man standing next to her, with crossed arms. He was tapping his foot on the linoleum floor impatiently.

''I'm sorry, mr. Stephens,'' The pinkette told him. Her boss was a balding man who always wore a knotted tie that was secured a little too tightly, as well as a smug expression. She was working as a cashier to gain some extra money to help her mother out in the time she wasn't able to, but he wasn't making the job easy for her.

''If I see you space out one more time, l'll be sure to fire you, missy.''

Sakura nodded at the man, and took the carton of milk from the old lady, muttering an apology to her as well.

To her surprise, as soon as Mr Stephens was out of sight, the lady winked and whispered, ''I feel bad for you, girly. You have to deal with that man everyday.''

Sakura moved the carton of milk through the laser that read the bar code, showing her the prize that needed to be paid for the product.

To her own surprise, Sakura couldn't suppress a smile. ''I'll be ok. That's one dollar and fifty cents, please.''

The woman handed the girl the money, and took a hold of the plastic bag that held her milk.

''Hurry up, Chiyo!'' Her friend shouted, tugging the said woman's sleeve.

Sakura chuckled as she watched the women leave the supermarket through the automatic sliding doors, giggling like high school girls. She hoped she

would be like that when she was their age.

At around half past ten, the supermarket was closed. The rest of the employees had already left, but Sakura was ordered to clean up the spilled products in the clearances, and turn off the lights.

Oh how she hated her job. The building gave her the creeps, especially at night. There were shadows everywhere, and one could never be sure wether the shadow belonged to a pile of boxes or a murderous rapist.

She tried decreasing her fright by humming a tune. It was the only tune she knew inside out. Her mother used to sing it to her when she had trouble falling asleep. Sakura sighed at the memory.

After she finally finished cleaning, Sakura locked up the store.

She once again made the mistake to search for her own bike among the other forgotten ones that were standing by the exit, leaning against the stone walls of the building. She sighed and took in the street.

The sky was pitch-black, causing the street to be dark as well. It was also totally empty, and full of Sakura's so very beloved shadows. The girl shivered and started walking the route to her house stiffly, trying to make as little noise as possible.

When she was about half-way, she thought she heard footsteps, aside from her own. She clutched her white bag in her hands and started walking faster. She timidly looked behind her, and could just make out somebody's silhouette. Her eyes widened as the person passed a street lantern, becoming visible to her for a few seconds. It was a man that looked about thirty years old, and wore a dirty, dark green hoodie with the words, 'no, I'm not on fucking facebook,' on it.

Sakura gulped. This man looked like a classical example of one of the people her mom had meant when she told her daughter not to talk to strangers.
What could she do?

Sakura over thought her options; she could either run away and risk the chance on him catching up with her, she could scream and risk the chance on the man following her not-being a creep and a penalty for breach of peace, or she could take a shortcut to her home, so she would be home sooner and had a big chance of shaking the man off.

The third option seemed the best one, so she turned around a nearby corner, into an alleyway. She knew for a fact that it led to an enormous maze of alleys that led to every location in town. She also knew she shouldn't come here, especially at night, but she had a bigger chance of returning to her house healthy this way.

She had to duck and slalom her way through the small street, since it was littered with waste bins, old carton boxes, garbage and refuse bags. To her own abomination, she noticed that the iron fence at the end of the alley wasn't open like it was during the day, but closed. A big, rusty chain lock prevented it from being opened.

She looked over her shoulder swiftly, and when she noticed the man was coming closer steadily, she started shaking the fence panic-stricken. But even though it made loud clanging and creaking noises, it didn't move an inch.

She made a desparate jump for the top of the fence, and to her own surprise, she made it!

Sakura was now hanging from the fence. She took a deep breath, moved her arm over it and pulled herself up.

The pink-haired girl let out a small shriek as a hand closed around her ankle, and for one single, panicky moment she thought she was going to fall down, at the mercy of the man. He would be able to do whatever he wanted with her. But fortunately, her momentary loss of balance caused her to fall forward. The weight was too much for the man that was attempting to pull her down, so his grip on her foot loosened and Sakura landed on a pile of moist carton boxes.

The fall wasn't completely painless, but she didn't even feel it. All she knew was that she needed to get away from the man that was staring at her throught the fence, with cold, merciless eyes and a grin that was filled with teeth that were a yellow-ish brown. There were some missing occasionally.
A shiver went down Sakura's spine, before she remembered she had to get out of this place, stood up and ran as fast as her skinny legs could carry her.

Luckily, running was one of the things she was good at.

A wave of relief washed over her as she noticed a large amount of light coming from the end of the alley, she knew, led to a street that was only one block away from her house. She slowed down a bit, realising this street wasn't empty. There were cars driving to and from.

She let out a sigh she didn't know she had been holding in, realising she was finally safe.

The girl closed her eyes as she almost reached the end of the alleyway, expecting to soon enter the street. Oh how she longed for the bright, enlighted billboards and the crowd that was treading on the pavement.

You can imagine how surprised she was when a hand grabbed her by the throat, pulled her back and slammed her against the wall.

Naruto yawned audibly. Man, he was tired.

He knew he shouldn't have accepted Ino's and Sasuke's offer to go to the newly opened club tonight, but it had all seemed amazing.

Not that it hadn't been fun or anything, though. It had been cool. Going out is just not as much fun when your eyelids are drooping and you can't think straight.

Now, for example, he could swear he saw Billboard-Brow walking in an alleyway on the opposite side of the street.

Naruto stopped walking. 'Wait, Billboard-Brow?'

He narrowed his eyes, trying to get a better view of the girl, but his vision was blurred. Maybe those six beers had not been such a good idea.

Huh? Was his mind playing tricks on him, or was there really a man walking behind her?

For some reason, she was smiling, and her eyelids were closed.

Should he help her?

...Wait, of course he should! She might be a freak, but she was still a human being.

He waited a few minutes for a chance to cross the street, but then decided those cars formed a non-stopping line.

When he looked at the alleyway where he saw Sakura, he noticed she was now gone, as well as the man that had been walking behind her. That alarmed him. It wasn't possible she had exited the alleyway and walked all the way out of this street in such a short time.

'Let's try it the New york-way' the blond thought with a smirk, before crossing the street. He didn't look to the left or right, nor did dodge the cars that rode towards him.

He didn't even flinch when a car halted with shrieking tires, almost knocking the boy off of his feet.

This way wasn't the most careful or the smartest one, but neither of these abilities were one of his good qualities, so he ignored it and kept
walking carelessly, pretending not to take notice of the angry drivers and the things they were shouting at him.

When he reached the sidewalk, he didn't hesitate, but made straight for the alleyway.

Sakura gasped as the man slammed her against the wall. She felt as if all of the air was knocked out of her lungs.

''Why hello there, little girl,'' He whispered ''what are you doing in a place like this all by yourself?''

Sakura frowned at the smell of his breath. It smelled like rotten eggs and something else she couldn't quite place.

''Please let me go,'' She hissed. She tried keeping her face clear from any expression like she did normally, but it was hard when she was scared like she was right now.

''I'm afraid I can't,'' the man replied, ''don't worry. This won't hurt.''

He grimaced, and tried zipping down her vest. Sakura's eyes widened.

She tried kicking the man, but he only chuckled and tightened his grip on her neck.

He was strangling her.

''...C-can't...breathe...'' She managed to whisper.

''Don't worry, little girl. This will all be over soon,'' Was the only reply she got.

She tried looking at the street, to see if somebody could help her, but found they were hidden from everybody's sight by a huge, iron garbage can. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Just as she was about to lose hope, the hand that had been strangling her left her neck, ''Argh!''

Sakura gasped, filling her lungs with the fresh night air. When she opened up her eyes, she noticed somebody had pulled the man off of her. That person now slammed him against the wall and punched him in the jaw four times before releasing him. The man didn't fight back, but instead seemed to realise that his attacker was much stronger and left the alleyway, running like crazy. Both Sakura and her rescuer were panting from exertion and tension.
She couldn't see her rescuer's face, for he was wearing a hood and didn't face her, but was determined to thank him.

''Er... sir?'' she started, still panting a bit.

The person turned his face in her direction, but she still couldn't make out more than his hood.

''Thank you very much,'' the pink haired teen continued, fidgeting the strings from her vest nervously.

'I should give this person something... anything,' She thought.

But she did not have any time to think, as her rescuer turned around, muttered something that sounded like, ''It's ok,'' and left the alleyway.

She thought she recognised his voice from somewhere, but dismissed it.

After all, she didn't know any people that would help her if she were in danger.

A few days later, during lunch break, Sakura sat in the canteen. It was raining outside, so the whole room was stuffed with chattering and eating students.

She hated the canteen. It was an unnecessary big room that looked very plain because of the colours that were picked for decorating it; mainly white and grey. The only source of light came from some circular lamps that hung from the ceiling, for the clouds were blocking the sun from everybody's view, and the floor consisted of white tiles. The only furniture consisted of long, iron tables that were placed all over the room. They were hardly noticeable now, though, as they were littered with students. Some were sitting on the tables, some were reading on the long iron benches, and hell, some were even lying on them!

Each and every one of them looked content and happy.

Sakura, though, was sitting on the very end of one of the tables, as far away from the rest of the students as she could manage without falling off of the bench she was sitting on. Her head was hanging and her pose was hunched up. Every person that didn't know her, would think she had just been dumped, or something shallow like that.

In truth, she hoped this way she wouldn't attract attention.

She tried focusing her attention on her lunch; a simple sandwich, like always.

When Sakura finished her meal, she opened her bag and searched it for her English homework. She had forgotten to do it at home. In fact, she never did her homework. She usually did it during the breaks. She sighed and searched her bag for a pen.

suddenly, she noticed the bag was pulled out of her grasp. She slowly looked up from underneath the pink bangs that were covering her face, affraid of who she would find standing there.

...And right she was, for there stood Naruto.

''Hey there, Forehead,'' He said, curling the left corner of his mouth up in a toothy smirk.

''Please give me back my bag,'' Sakura said, not reacting on the nickname she was given by the blond.

''Hm, dunno,'' He said, tapping his chin, ''maybe I should look inside first. Who knows, you might just keep some drugs in there or something,''

Another guy, Shikamaru Nara, walked up to Naruto and Sakura, so he was now standing next to his friend. He had his hands in his pockets, and wore an extremely bored expression.

''Give me my bag,'' Sakura hissed. She was getting mad now.

Naruto ignored her comment and opened her white bag, digging in it with his hands, ''Gee, Forehead. Where's all the exiting stuff? I thought girls always brought interesting things to school.''

Sakura was about to try grasping for her bag, when Naruto started smirking.

''Hey, Nara. Look at this,'' He said, holding up a small book with a red, fabric cover, ''It's a diary.''

Sakura thought she was going to puke, ''G-give me... C-can I please...''

'''March 22th. Dear Diary, today was a normal day, I went to school and such,'' Naruto raised his voice, ignoring Sakura's pleas, ''I saw Sasuke, though. Every time I glance at him, I feel like my heart is going on a rampage,''

Sakura put her hands over her mouth, as the other students slowly started snickering. They didn't try muffling their snickers, either. Soon Sakura's ears were filled with roaring laughter.

''-I can't describe it, it's such an unearthy feeling, I can't believe I'm feeling like this. It's impossible. He's so cool and popular and beautiful, and I'm-''

'SLAP!'

Everybody fell silent, as a loud, smacking noise echoed through the canteen.

Naruto just stood there, with widened eyes.

He didn't even move his hand to the cheek where Sakura had just punched him.

Sakura hadn't moved either. Her fist was still held out in front of her.

The only thing that had changed was her expression, which had gone from anger, to shock, to fear.

She lowered her fist, grabbed her diary and her bag, and ran away with as much speed as she could muster.

The students could only gape at the pink haired girl as she ran through the canteen doors and the soft tapping of her footsteps faded, leaving them behind with nothing but the sound of their own breathing.

Hohoho, hope y'all like drama!
Don't worry guys, everything'll get better for Sakura soon.
~Lion3queen