Hello everyone! This is a short, but really NECESSARY chapter.

Love,

Springflake

Summer vacation passed the way it always did in Konoha: a single week of unbearable, suffocating heat; six weeks of moist, invigorating drizzle; and grey skies. Sakura spent most of her vacation working, trying desperately not to think of the past events that had happened during the last months of school. She'd tried to block out anything and everything that had to do with Naruto.

This included Naruto himself, of course. Countless times he'd tried to talk to her, but Sakura always successfully turned her back to him or replied with biting, sharp-tongued barbs. There might have been the occasional small pang of guilt in her chest upon seeing the wounded looks he threw her, but she'd grown immune to them over the weeks. The way his eyes widened until they formed almost perfect circles whenever she decided to speak her mind and tell him exactlywhat she thought of him. The way a tiny furrow formed between his eyebrows when he frowned after another fruitless attempt to get her to forgive him. And the way he always clenched his lips together when he was flustered, almost as if trying to keep himself from saying something… stupid? Or hurtful? Sakura honestly didn't know.

One might wonder why Sakura insisted on making everything so hard for the boy when she'd admitted to him that she loved him.

Partly, it was pride. Sakura had always been somewhat of a proud person, and tended to become deeply offended whenever someone made a fool out of her or insulted her. She'd been the butt of most of her classmates' jokes–feeling like a fool was not alien to her, but it certainly did not alleviate the jolts of stinging pain that she felt with every insult flung at her. Her pride had been trampled over like a weed under the hooves of a stampede. Regardless, that didn't deter her from wanting to maintain the shred of dignity that she had salvaged.

But mostly, she was trying to keep her life empty. Isolation–not letting anyone enter her life–was her new "friend". After all, why would she, why should she make friends? People were bad. They were selfish and treacherous, with a tendency to be convinced that their own happiness was worth more than others'. Emptiness was good. Emptiness was safe.

As long as Sakura made sure she didn't have anything, she wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt again.

Yes, she had it all planned out over the course of the past few weeks. Distancing herself from people was the key. This year she would no longer try to make friends or even develop any chance of an acquaintanceship, like she had last year. This year, everything would be different.

Distancing herself from everyone included Karin. (Hence the reason why she'd answered none of Karin's calls to tell Sakura about her new school, how she'd like to hear from Sakura, how her vacation was, and if she'd like to hang out soon. She was hanging in there, wasn't she? Karin had quit smoking like Sakura wanted, but wait, her boyfriend was standing at the door, she had to go. A quick goodbye and a beep indicated the voice message had ended. More emptiness.)

Karin might have been Sakura's best friend throughout those last months, but that was exactly why it was better to end their relationship before it ended by itself. Karin would betray Sakura in the end, just like everyone else. It might have taken a while, but in the end, Karin would have done it too. Her father, her mother, Ino, Naruto... They'd all betrayed her, up and gone without so much as a care for her well-being. Took her love for granted. Used her to get what they wanted until she'd been all used up. Then they'd carelessly tossed her out like she was a beaten and worn out pair of shoes.

The depression Sakura currently dwelled in was very much similar to the one she'd experienced during the time she'd been badly bullied–or perhaps all her life for that matter. Only this time, there wasn't that tiny spark of hope, some naive, childish belief that someone would come to rescue her from all that had ever hurt her; that somebody would take her away.

Of course things would start to look up eventually, though Sakura did not believe this in the slightest. Things couldn't always go from bad to worse like this. Sometime the sun had to break through the clouds. Sometimes the drizzle had to cease.

Sakura's sun emerged on the Saturday before the new school year would begin again. She'd just gotten home from work after a particularly bad day–her manager had made a big fuss over the fact that Sakura had forgotten to pin her name badge on her uniform–and she was so tired that she didn't even notice the car parked next to the house or the many bags next to the stairway. What she did notice, though, was the sound of someone humming softly, drifting out of the kitchen as she closed the front door behind her quietly. As she entered deeper into the house, a slight, flowery fragrance penetrated her nostrils. It was a smell that Sakura, for some reason, associated with years and years of memories.

She'd halted, her foot frozen mid-step. And for one panicky second she'd wondered if there might be a burglar in her house. Then, she'd rationalized that a burglar probably wouldn't hum aloud in private property while–she'd noticed when she'd poked her head into the kitchen–making herself a sandwich. Sakura had tried to recognize the figure standing there, bent over the sink, a healthy blush staining her cheeks and a pink apron tied around her waist.

Almost as if sensing Sakura's gaze on her, the woman had turned around. Her eyes had widened and the knife she had been holding slipped through her fingers and landed on the kitchen tiles with a soft clang. '"Sakura!'" she'd shrieked, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Mom!" Sakura had squeaked aloud.

Then and there, a thousand emotions all at once inundated her being, and she wasn't sure which one to go with: the happiness and joy she felt at seeing her mom again after–how long had it been? It felt like ages. Then there was the re-emerging betrayal and resentment she felt for her mom going AWOL, and then leaving her without a goodbye or a thank you. Contrastingly, there was pity upon remembering how her mother had looked so frail and helpless the last time Sakura had seen her. But finally, there was curiosity over what had happened to transform the woman from the ghostly pale, hollow shadow of what she'd once been to the radiant, beautiful lady who peered uncertainly at her daughter from her spot by the sink.

Lily Haruno still hadn't moved from her position, but tears had begun to well up in her sparkling eyes as she lowered her hands from her mouth.

The reunited daughter and mother simultaneously opened their mouths to say something–the former to yell and the latter to stutter a clumsy greet. But before any sound could escape their lips, they had dropped whatever they had been holding to the floor, sprinted forward to embrace each other, and started to bawl loudly in an emotional catharsis.

That evening, while her mother was cooking dinner, Sakura had been sitting at the kitchen table while Lily Haruno told her all about the place she had been the previous two months. She had told Sakura everything; about how far away it was, and how very different it was compared to Konoha: there were mountains that she could see through her bedroom window, the seemingly endless rain of snow that twirled down out of the cotton sky day after day, and the hail that fell on snow-less afternoons.

Then Lily had told her how she had been ordered to forget all about home for a while. About how she wasn't allowed to write to anyone back home. And about how–even though the reason she had been sent there was her absentee husband's command–the only thing she hadn't been able to forget was Sakura.

Words poured out of her mother's mouth with such immense speed that they almost sounded like unintelligible ramblings when, in fact, they were anguished apologies.

Sakura had lost count of all of the apologies.

But at that moment, she didn't blame her mother. That would come later. For now, she allowed herself to only bask in the happiness that began to seep into her heart, and not of just her mother's physical presence, but of the way Lily didn't stare mindlessly into space anymore, and of the way she seemed to have finally set foot on Earth again.

Sakura lived in ecstasy.

And for a second, she had almost forgotten about Naruto.

Loads of thanks to Twinkletoast for being my amazing BETA!